Emotion born from Chaos: A story untold
by Nathan Ui
Summary: Jeremy found himself in yet another reality for the nth time, and this time it's with magical girls, of all things. If Jeremy had his way, he would have stayed indifferent and left them alone. He had his own things to worry about, after all. But Jeremy never was so fortunate... OC Warning, AU crossover.
1. Chapter 1: The End

**Disclaimer: The works of Urobochi Gen (namely, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, among other things) belong to him. I do no claim any ownership over their characters, concept, or story, their franchise, etc. ****This is purely fan work.**

* * *

Chapter 1: The End.

This is the continuation of a tale of a certain young man who has gone through endless suffering.

A young man who's heart was made of glass,

Surviving through over countless battlefields,

Having finally learned victory,

But never once truly understood.

Always alone, he trudges onward,

Clinging onto a hope that increasingly grows distant;

It was a life that gradually regained meaning.

Having once thrown everything aside, having once denied himself of all but his absolute basic needs, he had once relentlessly searched for one goal without regard for his own well-being.

But that is already over. The young man has already learned his mistake.  
However, he is still a victim of his own desires, and a slave to his own beliefs.

Habits are hard to break, after all.

Especially when one wishes not to change.

* * *

Jeremy opened his eyes, to find himself lying on the ground in an unfamiliar place.  
By now, such an occurrence has been so commonplace to him that he no longer feels annoyed by it; rather, Jeremy was simply tired.

With a sigh, Jeremy sits up, bringing his right hand up to massage his temples while looking around.

From what he could gather, he was in a courtyard which probably belonged to a modern hospital. Right next to him was a hedge which would blocked him from view from those in the hospital had he stayed laying down.

And in between the hedge and the hospital building, next to the bicycle racks, he is just in time to see 2 girls walk _**INTO**_ the wall.

…

No, that's wrong. His senses must be completely out of whack having suddenly found himself somewhere completely different; Jeremy made a mental note to remember to fix this in the future.

What really was happening was that the girls had willingly entered what appeared to be a portal, vibrating with negative emotional energy. Anger, despair, hatred, sadness, depression… it was all there. An extremely chaotic place.

Jeremy tensed up at the realization, but realized that this portal probably had no relation to '_HIM'_, despite both being chaotic in nature. At least, he hoped so. It's become difficult to tell anymore. Regardless, those two girls…

He didn't know what they were doing, but he knew for sure it was dangerous inside. And he was curious himself as to just where that portal lead to.

And so, he followed after the girls, stepping into the portal himself while concealing himself.

* * *

Different. Very different. It was almost as if he had stepped into the painting of a depressed artist who painted a landscape representing the state of their mind.

He took a moment's silence to take in the sudden change, before deciding to further conceal himself. As he cautiously looked around, he could see no sign of the girls he had seen earlier; perhaps they had already moved out of sight.

Regardless, this time he would not try to sense them with his abilities, because this… this space was thick with chaotic energy, and he did not want to risk bringing attention to himself.

And so, as quickly as he could run without making a sound, he made his way towards the center, where the source of the negative chaotic energy was emanating.

Maybe if he removed it, no one, especially those girls who had walked in, would get hurt.

* * *

Too slow.

That was what Jeremy thought as he made his way through this labyrinth. His progress was constantly impeded with dead ends, and since he didn't want to reveal his position by forcing his way through things he had to keep turning back to find another route.

Fortunately his concealment was more than effective, though. Those familiar-like monsters took no notice of him.

Even if his senses told him which direction the source of the malevolent energy came from, it didn't tell him which path would actually lead him closer, which was a pain.

His progress was also impeded when he ran across another girl, caught in some sort of red ribbon. Since he didn't want to reveal himself yet, sneaking past her while concealed wasted even more time.

And so, by the time he finally made his way to the center, he was just in time to see a blond haired girl get killed and devoured by some sort of monster.

And then the monster turned its head towards the last two girls on the scene, ready for more.

Without a thought, Jeremy instantly took action.

Jeremy rushed in, lashing out a single blast of pure energy at the monster, which exploded on contact and sent it reeling from the unexpected blow.

The two remaining girls turned around surprise, but before they could even see him he had already reached them and knocked them both unconscious. They've both had enough for the day, he had decided. He definitely didn't do that because he wanted his identity to stay concealed.

Definitely.

Right after knocking them unconscious Jeremy turned back towards the monster.

Seems like his earlier attack didn't even hurt the thing. It probably only flinched due to the unexpected explosion.

Looks like this was going to be a long, taxing fight.

* * *

...Or not.

It didn't take very long to defeat the monster, much to his surprise.

Granted, it could take one hell of a beating, but it still went down rather quickly.

Even so, there probably wasn't a need to waste as much energy as he had bombarding the thing.

Turning around, he made his way back to the two girls he had knocked unconscious. Somehow, both of them got covered in blood at some point. He bent down, reaching towards the two girls with the intention of picking them up and getting them out of here.

…

Eh?

Was there really so much blood on the floor around the two girls when he had found them?

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MADOKA!?"

A scream brought his attention to yet another girl. Jeremy recognized her as the one who had been tied up earlier, by that red ribbon.

Before Jeremy could say anything, though, he suddenly found himself being riddled with bullets.

_Eh...? When did she...?_

Somehow, the girl had whipped out a FN P90, fired at him, and hit him, all within an instant, Jeremy thought absentmindedly as he was blown backwards from the attack.

It didn't hurt, though. The bullets weren't strong enough to pierce through the defenses he had on himself at all times. However, the force of so many bullets striking him and the shield all at once was enough to send him flying back.

It wasn't too much of a problem. Converting some of the energy that had sent him flying, he used it to turn in midair and land on his feet, facing the new girl who had attacked him for no reason.

"What was that for?" He asked quietly, narrowing his eyes as he took in the new girl. The only thing noteworthy of his attention was the small buckler-like object on her arm. And the FN P90, but that wasn't as important.

That buckler was a magical artifact. The sooner he knew what it did, the better.

"WHY DID YOU KILL MADOKAAAAAAA!?" the girl screamed at him.

Jeremy merely tensed himself in response, casting his magic to increase his defensive and evasive abilities, expecting another attack from the girl as she screamed at him.

And he was right. But again, just like before, Jeremy had no time to react, even as he processed what the girl was shouting. A storm of bullets simultaneously slammed into him again even though he had tried to dive out of the way, but this time only forcing him to stumble back, as his enhanced defenses attempted to absorb the kinetic energy of the bullets.

Certainly, he wasn't able to react in time, but just like last time it didn't pierce through his defenses, so he didn't pay it much mind. Even if somehow the girl managed to make every one of the bullet hit him at the exact same instant for maximum impact.

But... kill Madoka? Who? The only... 'thing' he killed was that monster, not the girls. He had only knocked them unconscious, after all.

...Unless she happened to be referring to that monster. Regardless, he had no way to tell.

"What are you talking about?" he asked cautiously, trying to stall for time as he considered her abilities.

"Don't play stupid. Who else could have killed her? Besides, whoever you are, there's no one else here." She grounded out.

"But I didn't..." Before Jeremy could even say anything in his defense though, the girl simply disappeared and appeared somewhere else as a grenade suddenly went off right next to him, and again he was sent flying.

_How is she doing that...?_ Jeremy absently wondered as he flew through the air. _Teleportation..? No, that didn't match the data he had gathered just now... Time control? Was that it?_

Jeremy groaned internally. Fighting against those who had control over time were always the most annoying, even more so than anything else anyone could imagine.

This was assuming he was right, anyway. But it was always better to overestimate the enemy than to underestimate them.

There was no choice but to go all out against someone like this.

By the time Jeremy had landed on his feet yet again, he already had all his preparations in place. And it was just in time, too; another bomb suddenly blew up right where he had landed.

Well, that's fine.

_You're not the only one with some sort of control over time_, Jeremy thought to himself as he outran the bomb's blast radius, slowed down by his own magic.

The girl wasn't prepared for his sudden movement; and why should she? He had spent the entire time being flung around by her attacks, not being able to do anything until now, and when he had finally reacted, he countered with time magic of his own.

And to her, who wasn't expecting his counterattack, it must have felt like fighting an enemy who could move as fast as sound, if not faster.

Jeremy reached out with his hand. The girl managed to blink away again, but for Jeremy, even lightly brushing against her was more than enough.

Specifically, against the buckler.

He did have a lot of time now, after all.

Both combatants stared at each other for a few seconds, when Jeremy noticed that he had ended up standing next to the two girls he had knocked unconscious. Without taking his eyes off of the girl, he sent a magical probe at the two girls...

And involuntary widened his eyes in shock.

Yes, they were dead. Cause of death: Sheer chaotic energy similar to that of the world around them. Magical trace: Belongs to _'HIM'_.

_'HE'_ was here? No way. Impossible. He hadn't sensed him at all, and _'HE'_ was the one person who he could not afford to get past his sensors.

Regardless, this battle with the girl was one, large misunderstanding.

"I don't know who you are, but I didn't kill these girls here." He quietly said. It was still loud enough for the other girl to hear, though, as she gave him a disbelieving glare.

"And how am I supposed to believe that?" she replied, leveling a new gun at him. Jeremy didn't know when, but she had already thrown away the FN P90 and replaced it with AR-15.

To be honest, Jeremy was both moderately annoyed and impressed with his opponent's choice of weapons, considering her ability. Combining mundane modern weaponry with magic usually makes for a deadly choice when done right, as she had.

The main problem was that he had to face it himself now, and he didn't have any modern weaponry on him.

In fact, he was woefully unprepared for a battle this soon right after he found himself in this world. All he could use now in this situation was his magic.

His magic, and his experience.

After all, while she was certainly an annoying opponent, it wouldn't be the first time he would have to deal with something this difficult.

And if he really needed to, he could always do _that_...

* * *

Homura Akemi could not believe it.

This was the first time something had been so divergent from all the times she's experienced the same month over and over and over again; namely, this mysterious unknown young man in a white longcoat of some sort that clearly was neither a magical girl nor a witch.

Furthermore, she had seen Madoka die so many times, yet for her to die in such a manner by this... mundane young man, of all things, who definitely could not be involved in this magical girl business, it completely shook her.

And so, almost as if by reflex, she attacked the young man without a thought, her actions driven by her raw emotions for the first time in a long, long time.

But even as she gave in to her emotions she did not despair, for she knew that she would later have another chance to save Madoka.

However, the second thing she could not believe was how ineffective her attacks seemed to be on the young man. She had riddled him with bullets, blown him up with a grenade, and still he got back up every time as if nothing had happened.

She had sorely underestimated him based off his human appearance.

Thus, she would no longer hold back against him.

The young man looked as confused as she was, but she didn't care. He had killed Madoka; she will kill him in return, restock her arsenal, wait until the timer ran out, and then travel back in time to attempt to save Madoka again.

There was no way she could lose. She had all the time in the world, after all.

And then her thoughts were suddenly cut off as her enemy suddenly surged forward like a bolt of lightning at her, right out of the blast of a bomb she had set earlier under frozen time. By instinct she froze time and leaped out of the way.

_Fast!_ That was the first thought that came to Homura's mind when she recovered enough to think properly again. _That was insanely fast! I can't believe he actually managed to reach me before I could even react!_

However, time was stopped now. The young man was frozen in time like everything else; she could still take advantage of the situation.

Since the FN P90 she carried didn't work, she threw it away and replaced it with another gun; an AR-15 loaded with armor piercing rounds, if she recalled correctly, and aimed it at him.

If the bullets weren't working, maybe armor piercing rounds would do the trick.

Then she paused as she realized just how the young man was positioned.

Or more accurately, where he was frozen in space.

He was right next to the dead bodies of Madoka and Miki Sayaka. No, he was literally in contact with them. Granted, they were already dead and she didn't care what happened to Sayaka, but if she attacked the young man where he was now Madoka's body might get damaged.

And she respected Madoka too much to even risk the chance of harming it.

If she tried to move the bodies out of the way, his time would be unfrozen as well since he too in contact with them.

Did he actually plan for that?

_Impossible_, Homura thought. _It must simply be coincidence._

There was no way she would miss, of course, not with time frozen as it was, but who knows what her enemy could do if he could survive being being shot with a full clip from the FN P90 and move at supersonic speeds?

And so, she simply increased the distance between the two of them. When she had the chance, she could just simply stop time again and then deal with him appropriately.

When she was satisfied, she allowed tome to revert to normal.

The young man seemed to pause there for a second, before widening his eyes in surprise.

_Shocked, are we?_ Homura thought to herself. _Well, I won't be taken down so easily._

"I don't know who you are, but I didn't kill these girls here." Her enemy spoke, likely in desperation.

What an obvious lie, thought Homura. Besides the two of them, there was literally no one else here who could have done it. "And how am I supposed to believe that?" She replies coldly, aiming the AR-15 at him.

Her enemy looked annoyed for a moment at that.

"Is there really no way for me to convince you?" He asked.

"No, not really." She replied coldly, before firing warning shots with the AR-15.

Just as she had hoped, her enemy leaped out of the way; in other words, away from Madoka.

Time to get serious.

* * *

When the girl fired her gun normally without any use of magic, Jeremy instinctively jumped out of the way, narrowly avoiding the bullets. An idle thought crossed his mind about how impossible that normally would be if it weren't for his time magic slowing time around him, but that thought was quickly dismissed as more important things came to mind.

Like how to survive this battle.

Winning was not really an option he considered.

To Jeremy, this battle wasn't about winning or losing, not when it came about from a what appeared to be a misunderstanding. Clearing that up was his number one priority. If that failed, he could try to escape ad explain himself another day, but he didn't know if that was possible considering the unknown abilities of the enemy he fought.

How should he go about this, especially against an enemy like this...?

This was the first time Homura ever fought against such a powerful target that was so small, so _fast_. The only thing she had fought just as powerful would have been other witches. Even when she stopped time and bombarded him with bullets from all directions, not leaving a single opening, when time reverted her opponent would _somehow_ twist fast enough in time to reduce the damage taken.

And what a reduction it was; it took Homura awhile, but she had finally realized that whatever defenses her enemy had, they were _strong_, strong enough to stop most of her bullets from actually piercing his body. And the bullets that actually did hit him were all nonlethal, leaving no more than a scratch.

The main problem was, she didn't want to use up too many of her more powerful attacks because she knew that if she did, she might end up not having enough firepower to take on Walpurgisnacht by herself.

If that was the case...

She would just have to take him out quickly and efficiently.

* * *

Jeremy was thrown back by another sudden storm of bullets. Again, he prepared himself to land, but before that happened a bomb exploded, smashing into him. He saw it coming, for sure, but it's difficult to change direction in midair, and thus even with slight twisting of his body his defenses were forced to soak up a large portion of the attack as he was sent flying yet again.

_She's getting smarter,_ Jeremy thought absentmindedly as he was helplessly flung around by yet more explosions and bullets. _I never imagined someone else pulling off such a combo on me_.

His clothes were already starting to get soaked with his own blood. Granted, all his wounds were mostly superficial, and he had focused some of his healing on the slightly more serious ones, but that didn't stop the bleeding. Or the fact that for the first time in a long while someone managed to cause this much bleeding.

To any onlooker, it would seem that the girl was winning. And why not? She wasn't so as much scratched, and he was covered in his own blood and being flung around by her attacks like a ragdoll while he couldn't do anything.

At least, it _looked_ that way.

Finally, his preparations were complete. Now all that was left was whether or not he could maneuver and control the battle to go his way—

And then suddenly, an explosion ripped through his defenses and tore his arm off.

* * *

Homura watched as what was left of her enemy smashed into the ground after being thrown about by her chain of attacks, and sunk to her knees, more from mental exhaustion than from anything else. This was the first time she had fought anyone so difficult to kill other then Walpurgisnacht.

The young man's body was soaked in his own blood, missing an arm, and without a doubt unconscious, if not dead.

Homura sighed in relief. Now that she could properly recollect her thoughts, she realized that this battle was more or less pointless, considering it was clearly already too late to save Madoka. Why had she been so caught up in taking revenge?

Suddenly, a groan came from her opponent. She whipped up her DSR-50 sniper rifle, aiming it at the body of her dead opponent, not taking any chances.

Normally, this anti-material sniper rifle would have been overkill against a normal human, especially when powered with Puella magic, but she stopped taking chances after realizing the defenses her opponent had.

However what happened next shook her to the core, for before her eyes...

Her enemy's missing arm, the blood around the area, and his body itself all floated into the air reattached themselves to him, making his entire body into a fully functional one again, albeit still covered in blood.

* * *

[Time Alter: Self Restoration Sequence, Auto Start.]

[Reversion of Core — Set]

[Read to Earliest Functional System — Time Set.]

[Load and Start Sequence — Complete.]

[Restoration — Complete.]

…

Jeremy swore under his breath as he regained conscious. For that emergency sequence to automatically start, his opponent had actually managed to land an incapacitating blow on him.

To think he would be knocked out this early after appearing in this world, even if for a second, was quite worrying.

But...

He could use this to his advantage. It was time to turn the tables.

* * *

Homura could not believe her eyes as she saw her opponent get back up and put himself back together as if the previous attack that had put him in such a state had been a lie.

Then she realized what she was doing, froze time, and opened fire.

The bullets sped towards his frozen form before freezing in space and time themselves, right before they would have hit his body. Homura made sure to cover all angles so that this time; there would be no escape. She again prepared her traps, in preparation for another chain of attacks that she was now perfectly willing to use against this monster.

Start.

Time unfroze, and the bullets smashed into the body still healing.

But instead of knocking him back as usual...

The body burst into a cloud of paper talismans.

_What? How_—_!_

Then she was struck from behind, causing her to stumble forward.

And then she found herself ensnared.

* * *

Jeremy panted. Pulling that one off was rather difficult. He had set up his own traps earlier, but it was hard to maneuver the girl into one of his traps with when she was constantly stopping time.

He had read into her ability, though. Back at the beginning of the fight, when he had brushed against that buckler, even if for less than a millisecond, it was enough to set his magic and start a connection.

From there he spent some time analyzing the buckler, until he found out just exactly how it worked. With that knowledge in mind, he could be sure now that it really was time magic, and thus he was able to start making his preparations.

Him losing an arm and being knocked unconscious was not part of the plan, though.

Still, it did teach him other things: the girl frequently made fatal mistakes when surprising events occurred. And so he took advantage of that.

Swapping his body with a fake while restoring it at the same time was one of the more trickier maneuvers he had done. It involved some minor fake teleportation, illusions, time magic, Shinto magic, and around 10-15 other different styles of magic combined to pull it off.

Sometimes, it sucks to not have mastered anything.

But combining different fields of magic and combat was his style, after all, and he had pulled it off.

Normally, it wouldn't even have been possible considering his mediocre energy supplies, but it was ironically the girl's own power that had gave him enough energy to pull it off.

Namely, his defenses.

The shields didn't just forcibly block attacks. Jeremy never had the power to do that in the first place for so long.

No, over the years Jeremy had painstakingly created, improved, and honed his defenses to _absorb_ energy rather than just block it.

It plundered the kinetic energy from the movement of the bullets and shrapnel that had hit him for his own use. It absorbed the energy released when the already weakened bullets and shrapnel struck his defenses, again for him to use. And it soaked up the energy released from the explosions.

In other words, an extremely self-sufficient defensive barrier that was created from the combination of magic and knowledge born from science. Once set up, it could take the energy from attacks to further strengthen itself, or give the energy to Jeremy for use in combat.

A pity that his defenses weren't strong enough to withstand the forces of her attacks, though. There was a limit to how much they could take before being overwhelmed.

He did have other more powerful defenses available to him, but there simply wasn't enough time to use them.

Regardless, it was enough to allow him to survive until he shocked her with his 'recovery' abilities.

After that, he simply took advantage of her shock and knocked her into his own trap.

Jeremy sighed, never taking his eyes off of the girl. That was a mistake that the girl had made when their positions were reversed; you should never let your guard down until you could be sure it was truly over. However, if the girl did manage to escape...

Then there would be no telling what might happen next. Jeremy was exhausted, depleted of far too much of his magical reserves for his liking.

Then again, he could hardly blame her as his arm was blown off and he did lose conscious, even if for only a moment.

Jeremy looked carefully at the girl who he had immobilized. She was struggling to escape, but it was of no use; with both of her arms and leg bound, there wasn't much she could do, even with her time magic.

If the situation was different, he might have found the scene before him a little humorous as the girl appeared to start twitching between various positions, due to her activation of time magic but being unable to escape.

Then she began crying.

With a sigh, Jeremy raised his hands as if surrendering.

* * *

When Homura found herself caught she immediately stopped time and attempted to escape.

Stop. Start. Stop. Start.

It had proved to be pointless, though. Both her arms and legs were bound by some kind of magic that she had no knowledge off, and thus she couldn't really do anything. Oh, she could wriggle around a bit, maybe drop a bomb, but that that was counter productive, especially since she didn't know if explosions would be enough to destroy the bindings.

Not to mention she would be caught up in them too.

The only thing left she could do was delay the inevitable, or try to convince him to let her go.

She didn't really believe that was possible, though.

And that meant only one thing.

She had lost. How ironic, to think that she would in the end fail not due to being unable to prevent Madoka from making a contract, or by being killed by a witch, but because she had lost to something completely unrelated...

She almost fell into despair as tears fell down her face.

Was it really so impossible for such a wish of hers to be granted? Why must the world be so cruel?

Why?

Consumed by despair, on the verge of turning into a witch, Homura prepared to curse the world.

Then, much to her surprise, her enemy raised his hands as if in defeat.

"What are you..." The girl started as she froze, confused.

After all, _she_ was the one was bound and helpless, completely at his mercy, not him.

"Look, I don't want to fight you. I don't know what you're thinking, but I didn't kill those girls over there. You have to believe me, okay?"

Just once, only once, Homura wanted to believe him. But she knew she couldn't, not after all that's happened.

Although she didn't realize it, that one thought changed far more then she expected. Her soul gem had suddenly stopped darkening at the sudden spark of hope that had been ignited by her enemy's actions.

Maybe she wouldn't die just yet.

"First, stop wasting your energy trying to escape; you should reserve it for more important things. Not even the sands of time can help you there... but I'm more than willing to release you if could at least just listen to me."

Homura paused, shocked yet again. Too shocked to even think about despairing. What did he just say? The sands of time? How did he...

She would squeeze every bit of information she could out of him.

And if somehow, she survived until the end and reset the loop...

If he shows up again, she would be far more prepared.

"If that is the case," Homura said quietly. "release me and speak."

* * *

Jeremy let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

There had been two major reasons why he had been holding his breath, too.

First, he didn't think that she would agree so readily.

Then again, his attempt to shake her wasn't very subtle when he indirectly brought up her power. Rather than saying time control, he had called it the sands of time.

And oh how accurate that was.

The girl's buckler was actually a sand timer. When the flow of sand is blocked, time stops. And when the timer is reverted, time reverses, but the timer can only be reverted after the top part is empty.

In other words, the only thing she can do now is stop time, which would not help her in anyway as she is now.

Second...

He had felt the massive influx of chaotic power as the girl in front of him nearly fell into despair.

And that was something he wanted to avoid at all costs.

* * *

"I can't release you just yet," her enemy said. "You'll have to forgive me, but I can't be certain that you won't attack me the second I release you, not until after we've at least talked."

Silence filled the area as she simply glared at him.

"First, like I said, I didn't kill any of the girls here. Certainly I may have the power to do so as you probably have noticed, but it wasn't me. I could never do such a thing, or I would have killed you by now."

"Then just who are you suggesting killed them?" the Homura asks mockingly. "Miki Sayaka and Tomoe Mami would not have done so, the witch is dead, and there's just you and me left—"

Suddenly, Homura came to a sudden realization.

The witch was destroyed.

Then why?

If the witch is dead, why hasn't the labyrinth dissolved yet?

What was sustaining it?

Could this man actually be telling the truth?

* * *

"Hey, what's wrong?" Jeremy asked. He had seen the girl suddenly stop mid-sentence as she suddenly came to some sort of realization. As to what, he didn't know.

"Do you know what this place is?" The girl asked him urgently.

"Huh?" At the unexpected question, it took Jeremy a second to recollect his thoughts. "I... don't really know, actually. It kind of feels like some sort of innate bounded field, though, but I couldn't be sure.."

"This place is a labyrinth created by a witch. You and I are the only ones here, and everyone else is dead." the girl quickly went on. "Not only that, the witch was clearly defeated. If that's the case, then who's maintaining the labyrinth?"

Jeremy paused for a second. Although he didn't know exactly why she meant by those terms, it wasn't difficult to infer what she meant.

Very likely, there was someone else here that had taken over this false world and was sustaining it.

Than Jeremy remembered just what happened to the now dead girls.

Or more specifically, what his analysis had told him:

'HE' was here.

How did he forget? How could he have forgotten? Was he really so invested in this battle that it had actually slipped his mind?

"_Sorry, old friend."_

Before he could even check the area around him, he heard 'HIS' voice. And then he was impaled from behind, the attack piercing through all his defenses as if they wasn't even there.

* * *

Homura watched as the young man come to the same realization she did.

And then she watched as the same young man was suddenly impaled by some sort of black murky tentacle that shot right out of the ground, behind the young man.

No. That description didn't do what happened justice.

The tentacle moved so fast it might as well have _instantly materialized_, impaling the young man and piercing through the defenses she had so much trouble getting through.

The force of the ever-extending limb forced the young man to smash face down right at her feet as more of those disgusting looking tentacles appeared and pieced the young man, utterly pinning him in place.

And despite all that, the young man was still alive, if barely. He looked up at her from where he lay, blood dripping out of his mouth as it moved slightly as if trying to speak.

Then more tentacles appeared and went for her.

Immobilized as she was, all she could do was helplessly watch as the tentacles smashed into her, literally ripping her out of the bindings as they too pinned her into the ground next to the young man.

Homura let out a scream at the sudden burst of pain as the tentacles pierced through her. It was incredibly painful; unlike anything else she had ever felt in all her loops.

Then from where the tentacles had pierced her, darkness started to spread.

By then her hopes had been utterly crushed. The young man who didn't actually mean her harm had been rendered incapable of doing anything, and without a doubt she would definitely die this time.

The world was even crueler then she thought; to give her a small slimmer of hope at the end before utterly crushing even that.

All she could do now was cry and watch in horror as the blackness from the tentacles spread and accelerated the corruption of her Soul Gem.

Then she felt a hand lightly touch hers.

The young man was still alive.

Although he could no longer speak, she could see it in his determined eyes.

_Let me help you for a bit._

Suddenly, the corruption in her Soul Gem slowed down as the corruption from the tentacles was redirected straight into him.

_That should be... impossible..._ Homura thought between fresh waves of pain.

Suddenly the world around them froze, literally.

Ice started spreading out from the young man''s body as the world around them turned white. The freezing of the world continued to race away as everything began to freeze over, frost settling around the two of them.

And in seconds, the labyrinth was covered in ice.

Homura looked down at the young man, where all the ice had originated, before she caught sight of his face.

Despite all the pain that he must have been feeling, despite all the corruption and despair he had taken from her, he still smiled gently at her, his eyes not blaming her for what had happened at all.

_I leave it all to you_.

The young man reached for her arm, placing it on the sand timer she wore there.

And suddenly, an influx of magical energy surrounded the sand timer.

Homura had no idea what he was doing, but she couldn't do anything about it, immobilized as she was.

Before she knew it, the flow of energy stopped just as suddenly as the influx of energy had appeared, and the young man slumped onto the ground, dead.

Homura stared at him for a moment. Why did he just do all that? She couldn't comprehend his actions.

Even if he had taken up her despair upon himself, it didn't change the fact that the tentacles were still continuously corrupting her Soul Gem through whatever means. All he did was delay her end while causing more suffering for himself.

Homura could only stare at him as she was about to turn into a witch that would curse the wold around her.

And then, against all odds, against everything she had known, her sand timer flipped and was reverted, a feat that should have been utterly impossible.

* * *

Homura bolted awake with a start. What was that? A dream? It was too realistic to be a dream, yet too impossible for it to be real.

It took her a moment to calm down and recollect herself.

She was lying in her hospital bed. The same familiar bed in the same, familiar room, with the same, familiar ceiling.

If the dream was real, then somehow the loop had managed to reset despite the impossibility of that happening at the time. The upper portion of the sand timer had till been quite full at the time, after all.

Not to mention that the pain and aches she felt now were undeniably real.

She recalled what had happened in the final moments. The one who she believed was her enemy but wasn't had sacrificed himself for a pointless reason to save her, although she had tried to kill him just earlier.

It just didn't make sense.

Regardless, it didn't change the fact that she had been given another chance to save Madoka from making a contract. If she needed to, she could always think about it later

And thus, she got out of bed.

She had a contract to prevent.

* * *

Jeremy slowly opened his eyes from where he lay.

He remembered everything that had happened earlier, although he didn't know the details at the very end, where he blacked out yet again.

Did he die? Dd he lose conscious? He wasn't sure.

Regardless, he was alive now, his entire body aching with pain as he stared at the sky.

With a groan, he looked around.

He recognized this place; it was right outside the hospital, the same place where he ended up when he had first arrived in this world.

The time and date appeared to be quite different, though.

From what he could tell, he had actually ended up days before the event.

Well, he mostly inferred that from what his senses told him, though; the chaotic innate bounded field, or the 'labyrinth' as the girl had called it, was still in the process of being made.

It looked like his gamble had paid off.

He hadn't been analyzing the girl's sand timer just to find out exactly what it did. Certainly, it was useful for surviving and turning the tables on her during the battle, but that wasn't his main goal.

The thing was, Jeremy was good at altering how things work, once he knew how it worked.

He already done such a thing to so many different styles of magic and martial arts, all tailored so that he could switch and combine them as he pleased for maximum unpredictability.

And thus Jeremy had attempted to alter how the girl's sand timer would work.

Normally such a thing would have been impossible for him, considering how low his reserves were and how much further exhausted he was at that point in the battle.

But Jeremy couldn't really be considered 'normal'. It was a desperate move, one that literally plundered all forms energy from his surroundings for him to convert for his use, combined with his own life force, among other things, just to cast the alteration on the sand timer.

To the girl, it must have looked like the world had frozen over.

One of the more obvious alterations was the fact that the girl was suddenly able to reverse time at that moment, despite how it worked. It wasn't all that difficult, to be honest; all it took was a single question that had come up in his mind:

What would happen if he had manually forced the sand to flow backwards?

It really was a gamble, pulling something like that off.

Ironically, the most obvious alteration wasn't a permanent alteration.

The one that _was_ permanent (at least for now, anyway) was a safeguard just in case they had to fight again: whatever effect the sand timer had on the girl with relation to the rest of the world, it would also happen to him.

To put simply: If the girl decided to stop time, neither the girl nor he would be now be affected.

If the girl reversed time and sent herself back into time, he would be pulled back too.

A safeguard, just in case they met again and ended up having to fight again, although he hoped that would never come to happen.

She didn't seem like a bad person, after all.

But...

Whatever it is that's going on here, it isn't his primary concern.

Jeremy was sure that there was probably someone who would take care of it, if the power of that girl was anything to go by. That monster he fought before the battle would probably be a piece of cake to her. He probably wouldn't be needed at all, at least until 'HE' shows up again.

That was something he definitely had to prepare for this time.

But first, he had his own things to prioritize.

Like changing his outfit to more modern clothes so that he wouldn't stand out so much.

Yeah. That was something he had forgotten to do in his haste earlier.

* * *

**A/N: If you read through all this, thanks. **

**Yes, everyone more or less died. **

**No, I won't keep mindlessly killing off characters in future, either. Actually, people should be less likely to die now I think, so that can be something you may be looking forward to. **

**Anyway, this came about when a friend of mine and I jokingly talked about crossing my original fics with random anime, like Puella.  
**

**Then she made me write it, and this is what we have here.  
**

**So yeah. Usually I don't write fanfics and stick to my original fics, but for once I actually ended up writing a fanfic for the first time. Let me know how horrible it is in the comments, although I would prefer constructive criticism (like anyone else, really.) **

**Well, I already know my problem with keeping tenses constant, but when I wrote this I just gave up on fixing that. Sorry about that if it bothers you.**

**Well, first off, some things you may want to know: **

**This chapter is less about the story and more about Jeremy compared to the other girls in the Puella universe. I actually wanted Homura and Jeremy to fight off at least once, and this was really the only time for it to happen. **

**Yes, Jeremy is my OC. He's from an original fiction I wrote and never finished. I'll try to make sure that any knowledge from that story that may be needed for you readers to understand (if not enjoy) this story/Jeremy is included, so that you won't have to read it. It's not finished, anyway. **

**The best way to describe Jeremy now is that he's more or less a jack of all trades, who focuses on unpredictability, wit, intelligence, and a combination of all of the skills he learned to get by. There's a reason why Jeremy has learned so many skills (even if he hadn't mastered them at all), but for now I can say that his Time Alteration helps a lot in that matter.  
**

**Normally, Jeremy is actually quite powerful (technical-wise), but then again so are the Puella Magi and the Witches, so it was actually not too bad a match (as you probably have read already).  
**

**Jeremy's weakest point is actually his weaker constitution and mediocre reservoirs of magic, which he compensates by... well, you probably know some of the ways he compensates for it if you've bothered to read the story properly. **

**Regardless, when it comes to sheer damage output... Of all the characters here, Jeremy is actually the _weakest_. Yes, even weaker then Sayaka (probably) (note: compared to Sayaka's Magical Girl form, of course). He can compensate for this relatively easily, though. It helps to combine knowledge from science and magic together. **

**On the other hand, his technical abilities and experience far outshines any of the magical girls in this show, which gives him quite the advantage. (You might argue that Homura has a lot of experience, but she's only experienced approaching 100 loops in the timeline shown in the anime(word of god), ie 100 months. Jeremy's experienced a lot more than that. )**

**Second, a number of you will probably recognize the opening as being similar to Archer's lines from the Fate/ series, by Type Moon and Nasu. **

**Again, I claim no credit for that idea, but I felt that a slightly altered version fit Jeremy so darn well so I ended up using it, despite their completely different backgrounds. That idea fits him way too well; each and every line as it is now perfectly describes him, so I couldn't help but use it.  
**

**Another thing you may want to know: Jeremy's and Homura both have time magic as a sort, but both work differently. **

**The way I see it, Homura's is stronger, as it can stop time and reverse it for an entire month for herself and anything she comes into contact with, but it has its limitations. **

**Jeremy's has more variety, in that it can speed up, slow down, or reverse time over a much wider range of targets, but for a much shorter time. He can NOT stop time, as nice as it would be. There are also a number of limitations, although the biggest one probably is Jeremy's mediocre magic reserves.**

**Finally, Homura is a character that I had some difficulty writing.  
On one hand, we all know her as the cold character that cares for nothing but Madoka, but on the other hand... she clearly still has her moments of weakness even after all those loops.  
**

**I tried to mix the two conflicting personas she shows here, but I don't know if I portrayed her well enough here, especially with Jeremy constantly shocking her with surprises.  
**

**Anyway, if you bothered to read through this entire A/N, kudos to you.  
**


	2. Chapter 2: Saving(?) Mami

**Disclaimer: The works of Urobochi Gen (namely, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, among other things) belong to him. I do no claim any ownership over their characters, concept, or story, their franchise, etc. ****This is purely fan work.**

* * *

Chapter 2: Saving(?) Mami

It had been a couple days since the incident where Jeremy had fought against the girl.

During those few days, he had been busy. He had to find an apartment for him to live in, a part-time job to sustain the rent, among other things.

Then again, getting those minor things done was actually pretty easy.

What really annoyed him though was the lack of information about magic.

He spent a lot of time trying find anything, but in the end all his results led him to a middle school, where the girls he had seen back then went.

It didn't take him long to figure out that this reality was one where only one group of people had magic: Magical Girls.

Jeremy had never really liked magical girl shows, but that was mostly due to the concept rather than the actual plot or story itself.

So, to find himself in a reality where magical girls actually existed...

It was laughable, how terrible his luck was at times.

On the other hand, the fact that this world was so similar to his own yet different gave him slight comfort and nostalgia.

Regardless, the lack of information about magic left Jeremy with nothing to do, besides waiting for 'HIM' to show up again.

But hey, sometimes it's good to have a break, right?

* * *

In the end, Jeremy simply wasn't able to take a break for long. Even as he tried to relax, his body refused to do so, constantly tense and restless in expectation for 'HIM' to show up at any moment.

Put simply, Jeremy was unable to relax until he knew that 'HE' was finally defeated in this reality. It would be then that he could be safe, at least until he found himself elsewhere yet again.

Sometimes Jeremy wondered if he was cursed to endlessly fight 'HIM' for all eternity.

Thinking about it was pointless. Since he was so restless, Jeremy ended up going out more often, taking walks, using his five senses to the extreme as an exercise.

Every once in a while, here and there he would detect sources of chaotic energy. None of their signatures indicated 'HIM', though, and thus he left them alone.

The Magical Girls here would take care it themselves. There was no need for him to infringe on their work and reveal his existence too early.

In fact, he was perfectly fine if none of the Magical Girls knew about him, although this probably was no longer the case.

The girl he fought against the other day probably still remembered him.

That was how the sand timer worked, after all.

But even so...

With nothing to do and Magical Girls appearing to be the only source of magic around here, he couldn't help but be interested in their magic.

Maybe he could learn something, unlikely as it was.

* * *

It was evening by the time he found a magical girl, and a familiar one at that.

She was the same blond one that had gotten killed before he ended up in this new timeline.

Just like before, she was accompanied by two other girls, the same ones he had knocked unconscious that day.

Jeremy supposed that they were probably friends, considering the interactions they had with each other.

But what Jeremy found strange was that of the three, the blond girl was the only one emanating latent magic energy.

What did that mean? Were they not magical girls yet? Were they going to become magical girls?

If not, then was she actually bringing normal girls along with her as she did her work?

That last thought sounded quite unpleasant, but at the same time made the most sense considering what happened when he had first seen them.

Intrigued, Jeremy intended to find out.

* * *

"Say, Mami-san... Do you at least have an idea of where the Witch might be?"

Tomoe Mami and her relatively new friends Sayaka and Madoka were out searching for a Witch.

More specifically, the Witch that had escaped her the other day, no thanks to Homura's appearance.

On the plus side, it was also the same event where she had met Madoka and Sayaka. Mami, who hadn't been given the chance to think properly about making her wish when she made the contract, wanted these two new possible allies to at least think it through before they made their decision.

It as a once-in-a-lifetime chance, after all, and she felt that anyone who had to make such an important decision should get the chance to think about it through, and the choice whether or not to decide.

Her way of thinking was probably influenced by the fact that she had gotten neither, but she didn't care.

It was the right thing to do.

"You often find traces of Witches' auras around car crashes or deadly accidents," Mami replied in response to Sayaka's question.

As Mami proceeded to continue explaining how Witches were often found in places with despair, she continued to watch her Soul Gem's reaction to their surroundings.

Perhaps it was coincidence, perhaps not, but right after she had finished her explanation it reacted pretty strongly.

* * *

"It's reacting to some very powerful magic."

Jeremy froze when he heard the one called Mami say that.

Then he realized that it probably wasn't him, as he too could sense that same chaotic energy, similar to that of the "labyrinth" he fought in the other timeline.

Then there was also the fact that while he certainly was using a multitude of different magics to conceal his presence, his magic capabilities never were that high.

And the fact that he had following them for some time now and it hadn't reacted that strongly when he first approached.

Granted, he wasn't actually all that close; normally he wouldn't even be able to hear them talk, but with some enhancements and positioning he could hear their voices carried by the wind.

The girls rushed off in the direction of an abandoned building; now was no time to contemplate. Silently, still hidden from view, he followed after them.

* * *

"Mami-san, look!"

As Sayaka shouted and pointed to the roof, Mami immediately realized what was going on and took action.

Running forward, she transformed into a Magical Girl and caught the women who had just attempted suicide with her ribbons, slowing her descent until she gently landed on the ground.

It didn't take long for Mami to confirm that the woman had the Witch's Kiss.

"I-is she...?" Madoka started, not wanting to finish the sentence.

"It's okay. She only fainted. Let's go."

She was relieved that they had arrived in time to prevent her death, but there were more pressing matters at the moment.

She had a Witch to stop, before anyone else was harmed.

Heading into the building, Mami cautious looked around before her Soul Gem shined, revealing the entrance to the Witch's labyrinth.

"I won't let you escape this time." Mami said with determination. What she said wasn't just a statement; it was a promise to herself and all the people that this Witch had already marked and harmed.

Altering the bat Sayaka had brought along into something more useful for their protection, she headed towards the entrance.

"Make sure that the two of you always stay near me once we're inside, all right?"

"Right!"  
"Right!"

With simultaneous replies from Sayaka and Madoka, the three of them headed in, unaware of Akemi Homura who had been watching them from the building's entrance.

* * *

Jeremy paused as he noticed the three girls walk into the labyrinth. Certainly, the sole magical girl that entered seemed ready, but one could never be too sure. After all, she _did_ lose to the other monster, or 'Witch' as they called them, in the other timeline.

The other reason why he paused was because time kept stopping, which was annoying. On the other hand, it meant that the girl who had given him so much trouble in the other time line was currently active.

Well, then again that much was obvious, considering that she too was also following the three girls. This was a fact he had noticed some time ago himself. While she didn't do a bad job of concealing herself, she didn't actually use any magic to do so, and furthermore she easily revealed herself when time was stopped.

But then again, who wouldn't? No one should be able to notice you when time was stopped, allowing you to freely change your position. Normally no one should have been able to notice her.

It's just that, her stopping of time didn't affect him anymore.

Regardless, it seems she hadn't noticed him yet; if she had, she made no indication of it as she too entered the labyrinth.

Jeremy followed after her, still making sure his presence was concealed.

* * *

After seeing Mami defeat the Witch inside, Jeremy evaluated the fight.

First, Mami wasn't as inexperienced as he thought she was. In fact, considering her strength, he was surprised that she had even lost to the Witch in the other time line. Was it because she was distracted? Too overconfident? Or was she simply more powerful in this time line?

Regardless, the Mami in front of him was certainly no weakling.

On the other hand, as strong as she was there was still a lot of room for improvement. Her current fighting style seemed to rely on having another team member for close combat, allowing her to stay stationary as she unloaded pain on her enemies.

While it was not a bad choice, it is not the best of positioning in battle, either.

And it was made even less effective as she alone, seeing how Mami _had_ gotten caught by the Witch.

Then again, allowing herself to be caught might have been entirely intentionally, as it gave her the chance to counter and deal the finishing blow.

She had been able to dodge the blows in the beginning while firing back, after all, not to mention the amount of damage she could deal didn't decrease even as she was being flung around when she was caught.

Another thing of note was her endurance, notably when she had been slammed into the wall.

Any normal person would have injured pretty badly, if the cracks left in the wall was anything to go by.

It was also interesting to note that all her powers seemed to be tied all around ribbons. Even the percussion-lock rifled muskets that she used, along with the ammunition and the bullet casings, were made of ribbons, much to his interest. The bullet casings she fired were even reused for a second purpose, reverting into strings to ensnare the Witch and her familiars.

Without a doubt, a person with this sort of strength really shouldn't have lost to that other Witch that Mami will probably face again later on, Jeremy concluded. Not unless there was something he had overlooked, which was easy to do.

He hadn't even seen _how _she had died in the other time line, only knew that she did.

Regardless, it didn't change the fact that it _had _happened in the other time line, and Jeremy wanted to find out why.

* * *

As the labyrinth around them dissolved into nonexistence, the world around them returned back to normal.

Mam Tomoe took a few steps forward where the Witch had been, picking up a small, black object that the Witch had dropped.

"This is a Grief Seed." she said, showing it to Madoka and Sayaka. "It's a Witch's egg."

As she continued her explanation on what a Grief Seed was, she brought it up to her Soul Gem, using the Grief Seed to purify it.

"With this, the magic I expended during the fight is restored as well." she explained.

She then threw the Grief Seed at the doorway, into the darkness.

Just as she expected, the Grief Seed was caught. She really had been watching them.

"It should be good for one more use," she called out. "I'll let you have it... Akemi Homura-san."

The reactions from Sayaka and Madoka were understandable, but Mami was more inclined to agree with Madoka.

Unlike Sayaka, Mami still hoped to mend her relationship with her fellow Magical Girl, small as that hope was. She had always disliked how so many Magical Girls were always contending with each other over the Grief Seed Witches dropped, how so many Magical Girls, despite beings of hope, had thrown aside justice in favor of greed.

At least, that was the excuse she gave herself.

Simply put, Tomoe Mami was lonely.

So many Magical Girls had refused to team up with her for various reasons, but it all fell back to one reason in the end:

Whatever reason those magical girls had, it always conflicted with Mami's own sense of justice.

Compounded with the loneliness she felt as an orphan, and the lack of time she had left to make friends after hunting Witches, she had always ended up isolated.

She hoped Homura was different then those Magical Girls. If she was, maybe they could get along.

Then that small hope was crushed.

"It was your kill. You should keep the reward for yourself."

Akemi Homura threw the Grief Seed back.

Frankly, Mami was disappointed.

"I see," Mami replied with a frown. "So that's your answer."

Although Sayaka and Madoka didn't know it, what she just did was a test to see if they could cooperate. Rejecting the grief seed, which was a sign of her good will, meant refusal to work together. She still didn't know why Homura had rejected it, though. But if Homura choose not to reveal it, that was her choice. She would not press for answers.

Mami sadly watched as Homura turned around and left.

As Sayaka made a comment on how annoying Homura was, Madoka made a comment on how they all could have been friends.

Just like she herself had wished.

"It only works if both parties feel the same way." Mami said, responding to Madoka's comment. Words not just to comfort Madoka, but also herself.

Sometimes, it really couldn't be helped.

* * *

Jeremy felt he had seen enough for the day.

The Witch was defeated, the confrontation between the girls known as Mami and Akemi Homura had reached its conclusion. There was nothing more to do here...

Besides wonder just what the pink-haired girl was holding, if she was holding anything.

It annoyed him a little, the presence of..._ something_ there, yet he could not see it.

Not that he needed his eyes to know if something was there, but it was still annoying.

To his knowledge (or lack of it, considering how little he knew about magical girls), it could be one of those animals that always seemed to be associated with magical girls, but then again, since he couldn't see it, he couldn't confirm it. Not visually, anyway.

Earlier he had ignored it, or at least tried to, and had more or less succeeded, until now.

Another thing that bothered him to no end was the Grief Seed, and how they were used in conjunction with Soul Gems.

According to the girl called Mami, Grief Seeds were used to purify Soul Gems which got tainted after battle.

But wasn't it strange?

Soul Gems got darker as magic was used. This was more understandable; if magic was being depleted then of course there would be less energy left. Light is technically a form of energy, after all.

But to purify the Soul Gem with the Grief Seed, it just got depleted more.

Certainly, the sources of energy that was being depleted were quite different, as the Grief Seed took on the more negative energies, and the usage of their magic seemed to require the more positive ones.

One could say then that Soul Gems needed to have at least a balance of both positive and negative energy, but it didn't change the fact that the Soul Gem was constantly being depleted, regardless.

But that thought created another problem of its own; if that was the case, wouldn't that mean that technically, Soul Gems were unlimited sources of power? Or that it could generate its own power somehow? Perhaps the source of magic was from another source and their Soul Gems were actually a representation of the state of their minds or magic reserves?

Jeremy didn't know.

And just why were they called Soul Gems, anyway?

Taken literally, it could mean the crystallization of their souls.

But that couldn't be true... could it?

If that were true, then the implications that came along with that weren't very pleasant.

Then there was also the problem that came with the Grief Seed. Witch dropping Grief Seeds, using those seeds to purify the Soul Gems by having the Grief Seed absorb even more negative energy...

That struck him as rather dangerous.

Grief Seeds. Rearrange it, thus calling them Seeds of Grief...

Wouldn't feeding it more negative energy just cause it to grow?

There was something strange going on here, and Jeremy was determined to know what it was.

* * *

Many days passed.

Jeremy continued to follow Mami and her friends as they continued hunting for Witches and their familiars every day, hoping that he'll learn something, anything, that could help him come to a conclusion about what was going on.

He didn't really learn much.

Familiars did not drop Grief Seeds, the _thing _that was invisible to him was without a doubt something the girls could see and talk to, and even Mami's past.

He felt a bit uncomfortable learning that without her telling him himself, but it couldn't be helped.

Another thing that seemed strange, from what he could infer from their conversations anyway, was that to become a Magical Girl, you got to make one wish, which would come true.

That fact by itself practically screamed at him that something was way to suspicious about this whole thing.

A wish granting device of some sort was already suspicious enough, but this...

From what he could infer, ANY wish of yours would be granted if you became a Magical Girl, and all you had to do was fight Witches. But as a Magical Girl, you were also given the power to be able to fight Witches without much effort, meaning it wouldn't be that troublesome in the first place.

It sounded way too good to be true. Unless someone hugely benefited from this, there was probably a catch.

But Jeremy still didn't have enough information to come to a conclusion, much to his annoyance.

He did, however, nearly run into the girl called Akemi Homura multiple times, though.

For whatever reason Homura seemed to be following them too, but he had no business with her, so he avoided her.

Besides, considering their last encounter, could anyone blame him?

He did finally learn the names of the other two girls, however.

The blue haired girl was named Sayaka, and the other one, Madoka. Kaname Madoka, as Homura called her.

So that girl was the one Homura had been so wrought over. For whatever reason, she seemed to care for Madoka a lot.

Whatever reason it was, it wasn't any of his business. The only thing he had to know was, to prevent incurring Homura's wraith, he had to make sure that Madoka did not die while he was around.

If anything happened when he wasn't there, however, then it wouldn't be his fault no matter how you looked at it, and thus battle could be avoided.

Unlike Homura, he wasn't really all that invested in the girl he didn't really know much about at all.

And finally, the last confrontation between Mami and Homura.

First, the name Kyuubey had been said. It was probably the _thing_ he couldn't see.

Second, it appeared Kyuubey had chosen the other two girls to become Magical Girls, and that Homura believed Mami was trying to turn the other two girls into Magical Girls.

Mami didn't deny it, and the conversation degraded to mere insults between the two and a warning from Mami.

A warning which said that the next time they met, it would probably turn into a fight between the two girls.

* * *

The day was here.

Jeremy could tell.

The same day where he first appeared in this world, where he fought against Homura and barely brought it to a standstill, the day where 'HE' had shown up and taken advantage of him when he was at his weakest to take him out.

This time, he was far more prepared.

Especially since he shouldn't have to waste as much energy on Homura like last time, if it really came to a fight between the two.

Today, instead of following Mami around, he simply waited at the hospital where the entrance of the labyrinth would appear. He noted that the object there was nothing more than a Grief Seed...

Wait. A Grief Seed?

Was he actually right, then, that Grief Seeds could actually grow into something more?

…

Now was not the time to think about that. Jeremy could figure it out later if he needed to. He was not here to fight the Witch, he kept reminding himself. He was here for only one purpose:

To take care of 'HIM'.

_Is that what you really want?_ A voice inside of him asked.

It's not what he wants to do, it's what he has to do. That's what he's been doing for a long, long time.

_And what about what you want to do?_

…

Jeremy didn't really know himself.

The image of Mami killed resurfaced in his mind.

Should he prevent it? Let nature run its course?

If 'HE' was involved, of course he would prevent it, but if 'HE' wasn't...

What would he do?

Jeremy wasn't really sure.

* * *

Much to his surprise, Sayaka and Madoka had actually stumbled across the Grief Seed by pure coincidence.

Whatever reason they had for visiting the hospital had led them here, and by what appeared to be complete chance they had found the Grief Seed, glowing and ready to become a labyrinth with a Witch inside. That, or a Witch within a labyrinth. Probably the latter.

Basically whatever it was that a Grief Seed would turn into.

In the end, it didn't matter.

He was here, waiting for 'HIM', and that was it.

The girls separated as they agreed; Sayaka was to wait here with the _thing_ (it was probably the one called "Kyuubey", but he couldn't confirm it) while Madoka went to find Mami.

Soon after Madoka left, he visibly saw the Grief Seed glow, and engulf Sayaka.

The creation of the labyrinth was complete, and Sayaka was already inside.

Jeremy was about to head in, when he paused. If that _thing_... Kyuubey, was with Sayaka, then chances were she probably wouldn't die.

Probably.

Besides, in the last timeline she hadn't died until after Mami did, and Mami wasn't here yet. Assuming things went the same way, she really should be fine.

…

What exactly was he trying to convince himself of?

* * *

It was evening when Mami and Madoka showed up. Just like they did in the last timeline.

And just like last time, they entered the labyrinth.

It was this very scene that he had saw in the previous time line, where he had been confused for a moment thinking that they had walked into the wall.

Now that he thought about it, if he had wanted to follow after them he should have gone in right after, rather than wait, like in the last timeline. It was that hesitation that caused him to lose them and get lost.

On the other hand, this time he wasn't here to follow them.

He was waiting for 'HIM' to show up.

Instead of 'HIM', though, Homura showed up instead and entered the labyrinth. But considering Homura's personality, who was obviously keeping an eye on Madoka, it was obvious that she would show up.

…

Last time, when he first saw Homura she had been tied up by Mami's ribbons. Now that he thought about it, considering the nature of Mami's abilities and the bad relationship the two of them had, it was likely that they probably met inside the labyrinth, and then Homura had been subdued by Mami somehow.

…

'HE' wasn't showing up. Jeremy felt no sign of 'HIM'. There was no way 'HE' could already be inside the labyrinth, could 'HE'? That should be impossible.

Jeremy waited a little while longer, but a thought in his head kept nagging at him.

_What is it that you want to do?_

Jeremy frowned.

Why was he denying himself again? Because if he did, he wouldn't be at his full strength when 'HE' appeared?

_Why should that matter? _

That's right. Hadn't he already thrown away that style of thinking?

Old habits really _are_ hard to break.

Jeremy stepped into the labyrinth.

* * *

Jeremy ran through the twisting maze that was the labyrinth, altering the flow of time and his physical abilities to further increase the speed through which he ran.

He's been in here before.

There's no way he'll get lost a second time.

Following the correct route in his memory, he made it just in time to see Mami leaving Homura behind, caught in her ribbons.

…

Really, Homura?

Didn't you learn from the last loop?

Then again, the method and positioning of how she was tied up that was different, and clearly signs of struggle had occurred, unlike last time. Her Magical Girl outfit and sand timer were equipped too, unlike last time.

Not to mention that during his run through the labyrinth he had noticed time stopping a few times.

Maybe Mami's traps were more elaborate than Homura had thought.

After Mami and Madoka left (more unwillingly on Madoka's part, Jeremy observed) Jeremy revealed himself to Homura, canceling the concealment magics and stepping into view.

"Hey."

Homura's eyes widened slightly in shock and recognition, an action he did not miss.

* * *

Homura could not believe it.

She had been prepared for Mami's ribbon traps this time, but she still had ended up getting caught. She really had underestimated Mami yet again.

_Are things going to end up the same way as last time again?_ She thought to herself in despair.

And then a familiar face showed up again.

A face that she had conflicted feelings on how to approach and converse with.

"Hey." the young man said in greeting.

Homura looked at him, calming her emotions. This was a new time loop. There was no way he'd remember what happened last time.

"... Mind freeing me?" she asked tentatively.

"Yes, actually, I do mind at the moment, considering what happened last time."

Homura froze.

He actually remembered.

How...?

* * *

The girl visibly froze when he nonchalantly mentioned what happened before. And why not? She didn't know about the modifications he had made to her sand timer.

"Look, as sorry as I am for what happened last time, it didn't change the fact that I didn't kill Madoka, okay?"

"Why do you..."

"Why do I still remember?" Jeremy interrupted. "If you haven't noticed, I _did_ alter your sand timer. I mean, it shouldn't have been possible for time to have reversed then, right?"

* * *

Homura paused for a moment. Yes, that's right, this man certainly did do something to her sand timer back then. But what exactly did he do? And how did he even know that her ability to stop time was a sand timer?

Then Homura remembered the man calling her ability the 'sands of time'.

"Just... who _are_ you?" asked Homura, confused.

"Just a passerby." the young man replied. "I'll tell you again: I don't really mean any harm to you or Madoka. So let's not fight like we did last time; how does that sound?"

Homura paused. It probably was a good idea, considering how difficult of an opponent he was the last time they fought. She didn't really want to experience that again. But...

"How can I trust you?"

"Hey, hey, I should be the one asking that, you're the one who attacked me first because of a misunderstanding."

"Then why don't you tell me what happened?" Homura asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"...As far as I know, while I was busy fighting the Witch my enemy showed up and killed them. That's the only reasonable theory I can come up with. After that... I came back to the girls only to find them dead just as you showed up, and from there you already know what happened."

...Certainly, that explanation made sense.

"What about at the end, then? What was that all about?"

"That was my enemy catching us completely off guard, when the two of us were weak and exhausted. You already know the rest from there, right?"

"And how did you know about my ability to control time?"

"I figured it out while we were fighting."

What?

While they were fighting?

Was that even possible?

Her thoughts turned into a confused mess as she tried to sort them out

Just who was this guy?

* * *

Jeremy sighed. He was wasting too much time here talking with Homura, but at the same time he couldn't just leave her there.

He didn't know if Mami did this intentionally, but leaving someone tied up here in the middle of hostile territory was akin to killing them. What could Homura do if a familiar found her and she was still tied up?

But more importantly, if they wasted too much time here, then he might be too late.

Drawing a sword from his inventory, he quickly lashed out with three quick strikes before sheathing it again.

Homura fell to the ground, unharmed and released from the ribbons that had tied her up. She looked up at him with a confused look on her face before dusting herself off as she stood up.

"Where did that sword come from?" Homura asked.

"Where do you pull those guns out from?" He asked rhetorically.

She didn't reply, meaning that she probably understood his meaning.

"Anyway, it seems we have our own goals here. You can go protect Madoka and keep her safe for all I care; I'm here for my enemy, so let's not get into each others way."

"Of course."

And just like that, they both went onwards, towards the center of the labyrinth where the Witch was.

* * *

Internally, Jeremy was glad that they could actually come to an agreement. Better than being enemies at any rate, he believed.

They weren't allies either, though, but that was okay. Jeremy didn't really intend to drag her into his business, now did he want to get involved too much with theirs.

_Do you really?_

…Of course.

_What about what you want?_

Oh. Right.

"One more question."

"E-eh? Yeah, what is it?"

"What are the names of you and the other girls? Besides Kaname Madoka."

"A-ah. I'm Akemi Homura; the blond one is Tomoe Mami and the blue haired one is Miki Sayaka. Why?"

"Thanks."

Since there really wasn't much time left, he slowed down the world around him and sped up his own time, rushing on ahead and leaving Homura behind, ignoring her last question.

* * *

Homura blinked.

Just like that, the young man suddenly dashed off faster than a speeding bullet, leaving her behind.

Somehow, Homura felt a little... empty? What was it that she wanted? To protect Madoka, of course.

But this young man intrigued her too much. When they spoke, half the time he seemed like a naïve, idealistic young man, and then suddenly he'd be the coldest person in the world.

_'You can go protect Madoka and keep her safe for all I care,'_ he had said.

Homura pondered his words, before realizing what she was doing.

Madoka. She had to go protect Madoka. The young man wasn't going to get in her way, yes, but at the same time he wasn't going to help her.

Homura ran after the man towards the center, stopping time as she pleased to get there even faster.

* * *

Jeremy was pleased for once that time around him was constantly being stopped, thanks to Homura. It only meant that he would be moving even farther over the same amount of time.

As for why he ignored her when she asked why...

He wasn't too sure himself, which was why he avoided her question. Maybe he just wanted a good excuse as to why he happened to know their names even though they've never actually met.

In any case, he arrived just in time to see Mami jump in and start the fight against the Witch.

Although the appearance was different then last time, he could intrinsically tell that it was the same Witch.

Again, Mami fought off the Witch with the same skill that she had when he had seen her fight, just like before.

The main difference was, Mami was clearly extremely happy for some reason. It would lead her to becoming overconfident, and that would lead to...

Suddenly, Jeremy realized what was going to happen. He could see it coming.

No wonder Mami died in the previous time loop.

"Tiro—"

Mami prepared her ultimate move, while Jeremy tensed himself.

"—Finale!"

A powerful shot launched at the Witch, the bullet turning into a ribbon as it pierced through the target, wrapping itself around the Witch with the intention of squeezing it to death.

And then it happened.

A new body, and a ridiculous long one at that, popped out of the mouth of the old one, and shot forward towards Mami.

Jeremy launched himself forward without a thought.

* * *

Mami stared in blank surprise as her thoughts simply froze. Not only did the Witch survive from her ultimate attack, within seconds it suddenly appeared right in front of her face.

Then it opened its mouth.

Frozen in shock from the sudden unexpected event right after the happiest moment of her life, she could only stand there blankly looking death in the face.

Then, something smashed into the Witch and exploded, knocking it off course as it flinched and reared away from her.

Then following the explosion, a young man in white appeared, charging at the Witch.

Mami blinked. Then she blinked again at the impossible scene before her as she could only sink to her knees, her legs refusing to support her any longer.

She watched as the young man fought against the Witch with his bare hands.

No, fighting was not an appropriate word.

The man was NOT attacking the Witch, merely defending himself.

He leaped here and jumped there, expertly avoiding the Witch's attempts to eat him as he quickly moved out of the way. At times he would purposely barely avoid the Witch, then push it forward, somehow using it's own momentum against itself.

It was an impossible fight. There was no way this man could win if this continued, thought Mami.

Then the man sent the Witch crashing towards the floor, stunning it for only a moment.

But that moment was apparently enough for the young man.

* * *

Jeremy was not stupid.

Wasting all his energy to defeat this Witch was not an option, considering what happened last time.

But his goal wasn't to defeat the Witch, nor was it to save Tomoe Mami. His goals never was anything like that. They weren't even what he wanted to do.

Today,

all he wanted,

was to prevent the girl called Tomoe Mami from getting killed.

Not just now, but also in the future. Saving her would not do that. Saving people only made them reliant on being saved.

No, his goal was to knock some sense back into Tomoe Mami, a girl who never should have lost to a Witch like this.

"Tomoe Mami! Get a hold of yourself! Is this not your opponent? Stand up and fight!" Jeremy bellowed as he distracted the Witch.

That's right. From the beginning, he wasn't here to fight this Witch. He was only here to distract the enemy and give Tomoe Mami the chance to redeem herself.

The Witch recovered itself from smashing its own face into the ground, not even harmed at all.

That was fine.

This was Mami's opponent, after all.

* * *

"...Stand up and fight!"

The words rung again and again in Mami's head.

_Ah, that's right_, Mami thought. She was a magical girl, the bane of all Witches.

And right in front of her was a Witch.

How did she make that kind of mistake?

Pushing herself back up, she once again prepared herself to fight.

* * *

Jeremy leaped out of the way as soon as he saw Mami stand up with a determined look in her eyes.

Good.

He was no longer needed here, and thus disappeared from view, concealing his presence with magic.

The Witch visibly confused, looked around for him in vain.

But it was enough for Mami.

Without wasting the huge opening Mami caught the Witch for the second time with her ribbons.

As the Witch looked at Mami in surprise, she uttered the last words it would ever hear.

"TIRO FINALE!"

* * *

The Witch was finally defeated. Mami once again realized how close to death she was this time, and sank to her knees once more in a sudden bout of weakness.

Was she really this weak?

Suddenly, the young man from before materialized next to her.

"Tomoe Mami." the young man said, lecturing her as he looked straight ahead at the remains of the Witch as the labyrinth dissolved into nothingness around them. "A true warrior should not become distracted by their emotions. You should be experienced enough to know that. Not only did you risk getting yourself killed, but did you not think of what would happen to your companions had you died? By bringing them with you, you burdened yourself with a heavy responsibility. If I had not been there, chances are you most likely would have died, to be followed along with your companions."

Mamis widened her eyes in realization of his implications, tears forming in her eyes. Everything had been such a shock to her that she hadn't realized the significance her mistake, until this man had pointed it out to her.

If she died, Madoka and Sayaka would have been defenseless before a Witch.

Mami felt so bad that her guilt ate her up inside, making her want to throw up.

"It is good that you understand that. Still..." The young man paused, as if looking for the right words to say. "...although while it was true that you probably would have failed, it is also true that the situation is already over. You've been given another chance, so learn from the mistake that you made today. You are without a doubt a powerful and experienced fighter, so make it up in the future and redeem yourself, okay? I know you can do it."

The words at the end were surprisingly kind compared to his earlier words. Mami looked at him in surprise before she really started crying in relief.

She really didn't deserve that kind of kindness.

"I-I'm sorry..." she spluttered through her tears.

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing, you know," he said, gesturing towards Sayaka and Madoka. "Well, I have important things to take care of, so I'll be going. Chances are, we probably won't meet again."

"W-wait! At least tell me your... name..." Mami trailed off as the young man disappeared from sight.

As Sayaka and Madoka recovered from the event they approached her, concerned.

Mami could only cry harder at the kindness they showed her, throwing herself into Madoka's arm as she apologized again and again.

* * *

Homura was surprised.

Saving Mami in such a way, she hadn't even considered such a thing before.

In fact, could it really be considered saving?

Furthermore, wasn't what he did a bit contradictory to his words? From what she could tell, the young man hadn't cared at all what happened to the girls, only seeking his enemy, yet right after telling her this he goes and... prevents Mami from dying?

Homura could not understand this enigma.

Still, this time Madoka was alive.

She still had a chance to save Madoka.

If she saw that man again...

Well, she didn't know what she would do, actually.

But that wasn't important.

Like he said to Mami, chances are he probably won't show up again, so like always, it was all up to her to save Madoka.

* * *

Jeremy had simply concealed his presence when he had disappeared.

He had certainly heard her desire to learn his name, but...

What good would it do?

He was someone who shouldn't be here in the first place. The world would correct that soon enough and forcibly remove him.

But that wasn't his concern; while it was true that Tomoe Mami survived, there was something else very divergent from the other time line, one that bothered him a lot.

Namely, 'HE' hadn't shown up at all, and that worried him the most.

If 'HE' hadn't shown up here this time...

Where was 'HE' now?

* * *

It had taken Mami a couple hours to calm down, riddled with guilt as she was. After explaining herself to Madoka and Sayaka, she ended up crying again as they easily forgave her.

Once those hours were over, though, she was back to her normal, confident self. She was their upperclassman, after all. She really shouldn't be showing this kind of side to her to them, as their role model.

They were now in her apartment, enjoying some tea that Madoka had made, much to Mami's appreciation.

To be honest, she was still trembling a bit, and thus didn't know if she could properly make tea. But she hid her unease well enough to act like she's always been acting.

"You know, if I became a Magical Girl, there's no way any Witch out there would be able to stand up to us!" Sayaka said, posing enthusiastically as she did so.

Sayaka was the one who had taken to the event the most favorably. She had gone on and on about how cool it was to have been to be like the young man that had saved her, to be a hero of justice just like him, showing up to help people in their times of need.

"Miki-san, you _really_ need to find something worth making a wish on before coming to such a decision. _Then_ you can make the contract with Kyuubey... wherever he is." For some reason, Kyuubey had left them earlier, so he wasn't with them now.

More importantly, though, the hidden meaning behind her words and smile was not lost on Sayaka, who sit back down, dejected.

"Bleeh." Sayaka moaned, sticking her tongue out. Nevertheless, it was advice that she agreed to. "Fine, I'll wait until I'm ready. But when I am, we'll be the strongest team of Magical Girls out there, fighting for justice! Right, Madoka?"

"W-well, I'm not so sure about that, Sayaka-chan... Hey!"

As Sayaka suddenly grabbed Madoka with a lecherous grin on her face, the conversation quickly degenerated into Sayaka messing with Madoka as she tried to get Madoka to see her way.

Mami sighed, smiling at the scene all the while as she sipped her tea, all the while thinking about a certain man in white and what he had said to her.

It didn't take much thought. She would take those words dear to her heart and follow them to the grave.

As she continued to enjoy her tea, Mami idly wondered if she would meet the man again, despite his claims otherwise.

She wondered what else the young man could teach her, could give her.

And she wondered just what kind of things she _wanted_ from him.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for making it this far. **

**This time, as you've already noticed, no one died. (except the Witches of course, but I highly doubt any of you care about them. If you do... Well, I don't really care all that much either, so whatever.) How many of you are rejoicing that Mami survived? How many of you aren't? Regardless, it would be nice if you readers left comments, preferably constructive criticism. Again, if the tenses bothered you in this chapter, sorry about that.  
**

**Also, "It was also interesting to note that all her powers seemed to be tied all around ribbons."  
Pun was totally intended :P**

**Some thing you might want to know:  
**

**As I was writing Jeremy's analysis on the relationship between Soul Gems and the Grief Seeds, I actually got farther with his analysis then I had expected. Too far for my liking, maybe... who knows. Regardless, Jeremy got remarkably close to the truth despite the lack of information, huh. But it's mostly pure speculation as it is, as Jeremy himself acknowledged. **

**A lot of parts ended up writing themselves, actually. Once I got over a few stumbling blocks, it was actually pretty easy. **

**Second, Jeremy's conflicts with himself. You probably already noticed, but Jeremy has a lot of trouble breaking his old habits of thinking of himself in self-derision and being a bit of a loner, due to his past, in which he's gotten quite used to doing what he believe he HAS to do rather then what he WANTS to do. A subtle but major difference. **

**Once he comes to a decision, though, he'll certainly take action. **

**Also, Mami survived this time, yay. But she wasn't saved, which is actually pretty important. You'll find out why later.  
Of course, Mami surviving changes quite a bit of things from how the anime progresses from this point on. One thing in particular was that Mami's death was a detriment to Sayaka and Madoka wanting to become a Magical Girl.**

**How things will go from here, you'll have to find out... **

**As for Mami's reactions at the end, I don't know if it'll seem realistic to you readers, but I tried my best. Probably most of you will read it passively and be like, whatever. OTL**

**Anyway, if you guys REALLY haven't noticed yet, this was Mami's chapter. Next up, Sayaka! (with some Kyoko too, and maybe a bit of Mami at the beginning to wrap things up a bit if I think this chapter didn't wrap things up well enough.) What will Jeremy do this time around, with a such a hopeless girl?**

**Find out when I feel like writing the next chapter.**

**...**

**Then again, who's even reading this anyway? ****Hopefully I won't bully her around like Urubochi Gen loves to do apparently, but it's so hard not to at times. . **

**Anyway, if you bothered to read through this entire A/N, kudos to you.**

**Note: Someone, tell fanfiction to stop messing with the formatting. It just won't stop... ZETSUBOUSHITA! FANFICTION'S FAILURE TO KEEP FORMATS HAS LEFT ME IN DESPAIR!**

***turns into a Witch, despite being neither a magical girl or well... a girl.**


	3. Chapter 2 point 5: Alliances

**Disclaimer: The works of Urobochi Gen (namely, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, among other things) belong to him. I do no claim any ownership over their characters, concept, or story, their franchise, etc. ****This is purely fan work.**

* * *

Chapter 2.5: Alliances

Jeremy had spent many days after the incident with Tomoe Mami locked up in his room, tapping away on the keyboard of a laptop he had bought recently, trying to organize his thoughts.

He wasn't needed out there, anyway. Tomoe Mami and Akemi Homura were quite strong. It was high time he stopped neglecting his own goals.

Although Jeremy didn't know it yet, in hindsight this would probably be a pretty bad choice to make right now. But it couldn't be helped; he wasn't omniscient, as varied as his abilities was.

His thought turned towards Tomoe Mami.

Unlike the last timeline, Tomoe Mami survived. Jeremy felt small satisfaction at the thought. He hadn't saved Mami for any other reason then for himself; doing what he wanted to do was always nice, even if someone else disagreed with what he did.

Even if that someone else was himself.

Jeremy smiled wryly for a small moment, before coming to the more important topic:

Why hadn't 'HE' shown up? 'HE' was certainly there in the last timeloop. Was 'HE' still in the alternate reality that made up the previous timeloop? That was certainly possible; the only reason Jeremy was in this new loop was thanks to being dragged back in time by Homura's sand timer, into a new alternate reality.

But that didn't seem likely, given 'HIS' past actions.

Jeremy sighed. Messing around with time travel and alternate realities was such a pain, but at the same time gaining access to them was the only means for him to finally reach his goal.

Thus, he had spent that last couple of days cooped up in his room, organizing and analyzing his current knowledge, again and again.

Again, he could come up with nothing.

Really, it was quite a shame, but it couldn't be helped.

Jeremy stretched as he stood up. He'd been in his apartment for too long, and thus was running out of food.

It'd be best to take a break now, and go buy some groceries.

Opening the door to his apartment, Jeremy stepped out.

Ten steps later, he had already found himself facing Akemi Homura.

* * *

Akemi Homura didn't know what she was doing.

While keeping an eye on Madoka for the past few days, she constantly caught herself looking for a specific young man.

Why was she wasting time looking for the young man who had assisted Mami the other day?

True, there were a number of things she wanted to clear up, and with Mami alive and well to watch over Madoka she could afford to be more lax in her protection, sure, but that didn't change things.

Ironically, despite all her efforts, when she had actually found him it had been by sheer coincidence, when she hadn't been looking for him.

She had simply being walking down the street, and just as she turned the corner they nearly walked into each other.

They both recognized each other at the same time, but he reacted first.

"Excuse me," the young man said, turning away.

"Wait!" Homura grabbed his hand before he could leave.

The young man sighed. "Did you need something, Akemi Homura?"

"We need to talk."

"About what?" The young man asked. "I thought we weren't going to interfere with each other."

"Not here. I'm sure you'll prefer it if we spoke in private, too."

The young man paused for a moment, before sighing.

"If you want, you can come over to my place. It's right over there."

* * *

Once inside his apartment, the young man got straight to the point.

"So? What did you want to talk about?" he asked.

Homura took a moment to admire the room's furnishings.

Or rather, the extreme lack of it.

There was literally nothing in living room except for a single low table at the center, at which they sat at.

The Homura remembered why she was here.

"Just who are you?" Homura asked.

"Didn't I tell you in the labyrinth? I'm just a passerby."

A useless answer that told her nothing. Frustrated, Homura tried again.

"What kind of ordinary passerby like you would get involved in the battles between Magical Girls and Witches?"

"An unordinary passerby?"

Another completely useless answer that told her nothing. This really wasn't getting anywhere at all.

"Look, I think I have an idea what you're trying to ask," the young man continued, "But I'm pretty sure there are things neither of us are willing to diverge, considering our relationship at the moment. Isn't that right, Akemi Homura?"

Homura noticed that he addressed her by her full name, something she herself did a lot with the intention of distancing herself from the other girls.

She wondered if he was trying to do the same thing too.

"I just don't understand you," Homura finally said after a moment. "At the time where we ran into each other in the labyrinth, you said you were only there for your enemy. 'You can go protect Madoka and keep her safe for all I care', you said. Then you go off and help Mami-san, before disappearing off somewhere. Isn't that a bit contradictory to what you were saying?"

That's right. Claiming he didn't care at all, then going in to help Mami, it didn't make any sense.

"This and that are two different things," the young man replied. "But it seems you have come to a misunderstanding. I said that I didn't care whether or not _you_ wanted to protect Madoka, not whether or not the girls died. What you want to do isn't of much concern to me, since it doesn't interfere with my goals. As for helping Mami, it was just something I felt like doing at the time."

So that's how it is. But wasn't his goal something to do with his enemy...?

As if he knew what she was thinking about, he continued. "As for the one I was looking for, he didn't show up for a reason I've been trying to figure out for days with no success. Why he showed up in the last time line but not this one is still an unknown matter to me."

"I see," Homura replied. "Then why don't you tell me exactly why you wanted to help Mami?"

"Do I need a reason? It was simply something I wanted to do. If I really had to come up with a reason, then... I guess it would be because under normal circumstances, Mami really shouldn't have lost in the first place? It just felt like a shame to see her lose to a Witch that she normally shouldn't have lost to."

"Wouldn't it have been easier to just save her, though?" Homura asked. "You're not that weak yourself either."

"Actually, no, it wouldn't. I had my own enemy to think about at the time, so I couldn't just waste all my energy killing the Witch. I'm no hero of justice, and I never will be. And secondly, this way Mami's less likely to make the same mistake again, so for both parties there were more benefits this way."

For moment, Homura thought about what he said. After all that, suddenly he didn't seem so confusing anymore. A pragmatic man who didn't mind doing whatever he wanted... In fact, maybe Homura could use this to her advantage.

"Does that answer all your questions?" the young man asked.

"Actually... I have a proposal to ask of you." Homura said slowly. "Have you ever heard of Walpurgisnacht?

* * *

Walpurgisnacht.

Night of Walpurgis.

A festival named after Saint Walpurga, celebrated in many parts of Europe.

In Germany, Walpurgisnacht is the night when witches meet in celebration, awaiting the arrival of spring.

The monsters Magical Girls fought were called 'Witches'.

"...Are you saying, that on some night in the future, there will be a lot of Witches showing up? Or perhaps maybe even a very powerful Witch?" asked Jeremy.

"The latter. There's a legend among Magical Girls of a colossal, powerful witch; probably among the strongest Witch in existence if not the strongest, called Walpurgisnacht."

The strongest Witch, huh. Witches were beings of negative emotions—of despair, grief, regret, hate, sorrow, revenge, etc.

Suddenly, Jeremy realized that if what he thought was true, future events could turn out quite badly.

Seriously, was his luck so bad?

"Are you implying that this Witch you call Walpurgisnacht will show up here at some point in the future?"

"Yes," the girl replied curtly. "And I would ask you to help us defeat it."

Jeremy thought about it. Akemi Homura had her sand timer, which allowed her to control time. It was entirely possible that she had experienced meeting this Walpurgisnacht herself.

"Am I correct in assuming that you've fought Walpurgisnacht in a different time line?" he asked cautiously.

"Many times, actually. But it always ended with a Pyrrhic victory."

"Meaning Kaname Madoka's death?" Jeremy asked.

"Yes, but—wait, how did you know?"

Jeremy wondered why she was surprised by something like this.

"It was just an educated guess, considering your obvious devotion to Madoka's well being. She clearly means a lot to you, for reasons I wouldn't know. More importantly, though: Just how powerful is this Walpurgisnacht?"

* * *

Walpurgisnacht. Probably the most powerful Witch in existence thus far, its appearance was already enough to cause hundreds to die. A witch that without a doubt represented hopelessness.

Defeating this Witch was never without cost.

No matter how many times Homura tried to defeat Walpurgisnacht without losing Madoka, she was always met with failure.

Sometimes, she was tempted to just run away with Madoka, to let Walpurgisnacht run her course.

But she knew Madoka wouldn't like that. She as too kind, too naïve, to allow that to happen. Madoka might even hate her if she did that.

So she had no choice but to defeat Walpurgisnacht without allowing Madoka to make a contract, and she was willing to do just about anything to make that happen.

Which included facing this... this anomaly and getting him to help defeat Walpurgisnacht.

It was actually harder than she thought to convince him to help, she found out as she began explaining things to him. He brought about a lot of counterarguments to her points that she never knew.

"Why are you even seeking my help for this?" the young man asked. "What about the other Magical Girls?"

Homura sighed. "It's hard to get Magical Girls to work together. But I'll talk to them eventually too."

"I see," the young man said. "But do you really think that I will make much of a difference? I'm not all that strong, you know. We're talking about a Witch that can cause quite a lot of destruction."

"And we're also talking about someone who can defeat Magical Girls, Witches, and mess around with my abilities."

"That was only because of my suitable skill and experience. In terms of sheer ability and power, I know you will without a doubt defeat me. I don't think I'll be able to make more than a scratch on Walpurgisnacht if I was there. And then there's also my enemy that I have to watch out for as well."

"Your enemy? Surely your enemy can't be as bad as Walpurgisnacht."

"Let me put it this way. You've fought against me once before, so you know how difficult of an opponent I can be, right? With me using the utmost of my knowledge, skill, experience, and abilities to the fullest, against him, victory _still_ isn't all that likely."

Homura was quite sure that the man in front of her was far stronger than he claimed to be. She felt that defeating Walpurgisnacht without Madoka making her contract might actually be possible if he helped.

But now, he had just revealed that there was an enemy of his also here in the town of Mitakihara, powerful enough that even if the young man in front of her fought to the best of his abilities victory wasn't even certain.

Homura sighed. Why does everything always have to so difficult?

* * *

Jeremy didn't know just how powerful Walpurgisnacht was, having incomplete information from Homura and having never seen the Witch himself, but he was pretty sure that with both 'HIM' and Walpurgisnacht around, if he attempted to defeat one he would be helpless before the other.

Jeremy vs. 'HIM', Magical Girls vs Walpurgisnacht.

Both generally ended in Pyrrhic victories, even more so in the girl's case.

On the other hand...

It might be possible, if he made an alliance with the Magical Girls, and fought Walpurgisnacht and his enemy separately.

But without a doubt, 'HE' would understand that intellectually as well. Thus, 'HE" would most likely show up the day Walpurgisnacht will.

How troublesome.

At least, though, he knew when 'HE' would most likely show up without fail.

Although that didn't mean 'HE' wouldn't show up before then, Jeremy could tell that that day, the day Walpurgisnacht appeared, would probably also be the final battle against 'HIM' in this reality.

As Homura sighed in front of him, he decided that making some sort of an alliance would probably be beneficial to them.

And besides, he really didn't mind helping the Magical Girls.

"How about this: I'll help you defeat Walpurgisnacht, under the condition that you assist me when I fight my enemy. I'll even make sure Madoka doesn't die IF I happen to be around."

"I can agree to that."

That was rather fast. Homura must really be desperate for help.

Of course, throwing in Madoka as someone he would protect from now on probably helped a lot.

"Shall we get down to the specifics, then?" Jeremy asked.

"That's something we can discuss another time," Homura replied. "I'm afraid I've spent far more time here than I would have liked."

"I see. Then, before you go... If you see white-haired man, be careful." Jeremy said as he stood up, leading Homura to the exit.

"...Your enemy?" she asks after a slight pause. A simple question, but it meant she grabbed on to his meaning quickly, which was good.

"Yes. I'd prefer it if you didn't initiate a fight with him if you run into him. I have to confirm a few things first before I kill him. But if worse comes to worse and a fight is inevitable, try to stall him until I get there. Can you do that?"

"Of course."

"That's good. Then, it's been a pleasure working with you."

"If we're to be working together, at least tell me your name."

"My name is... Jeremy."

* * *

Jeremy.

She hadn't even realized it until she was already almost out the door, but she hadn't even known the young man's name until now.

It certainly wasn't a Japanese name, she knew that.

But did that matter? She had gotten a powerful ally, someone who's presence might be enough to finally tip the scales. Not only that, his only request, to her understanding, was to leave his enemy alone unless Jeremy was there, something she could easily do.

All she had to do now was to prevent Madoka from making that dreaded contract.

Perhaps finally, she could overcome Madoka's fate.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for making it this far. **

**Sorry, in the last A/N I said that the next chapter would be Sayaka's chapter, but instead I throw in this... half chapter, and not a hint of Sayaka at all.  
**

**Too bad for you, I guess.**

**Wait, wait, wait I'm sorry please come back let me explain  
**

**Originally, this was actually part chapter 3. (This is chapter 2.5 if you haven't noticed.) However, this section got so long that it broke the flow of chapter 3, so I ended up pulling it out and making it a separate half chapter.  
The content in this chapter is still important for chapter 3, though, so keep that in mind.  
**

**Also, Chapter 3 should be up quite soon, so if it's not, please wait a few minutes. **

**Some things you may want to know:  
**

**Homura is still tricky to write. OTL Around anyone else, it's not so hard, but the thing is when she interacts with Jeremy he just always ends up throwing her flow out of whack.  
**

**Still, I tried my best to keep both sides of Homura together. Hope I did a good job.  
**

**Anyway, thanks for reading through all of this. If you've enjoyed this story so far, look forward to chapter 3.  
And comments would be appreciated.  
**


	4. Chapter 3: Being Sayaka is Suffering

**Disclaimer: The works of Urobochi Gen (namely, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, among other things) belong to him. I do no claim any ownership over their characters, concept, or story, their franchise, etc. ****This is purely fan work.**

* * *

Chapter 3: Being Sayaka is suffering, but so is being Jeremy. Even with miracles.

Ever since Miki Sayaka met Tome Mami, Sayaka admired her.

Sayaka thought her to be the perfect upperclassman. Smart, cool, strong, brave, and most of all, a defender of justice, she was the representation of everything she wanted to be.

It was no wonder that Sayaka wanted to be a Magical Girl like her, to be a hero of justice and fight to protect the innocent.

She had only hesitated because Tomoe Mami, the girl she admired and respected, had warned her to think carefully about it, and thus she did.

But recently, her thoughts took a new direction.

The other day, Tomoe Mami had nearly died in front of her.

Intellectually, she knew what a dangerous job being a Magical Girl was, and that Mami would have died if not for a stranger's intervention, but it didn't change the fact that Mami _didn't_ die.

In fact, that scene only reinforced her admiration for heroes of justice, and that heroes of justice always won in the end.

She didn't know who the young man was, but he had shown up just in time, appearing out of no where to save Mami at her time of need, just like in all the anime she's watched, and she had admired even that. She wanted to become like him, to be able to become a hero that saved others.

And if she became a Magical Girl, together with Mami they would be an unstoppable force of justice.

Mami had told her to think carefully before making her decision, with much emphasis.

Well, that was fine. She did put a lot of thought to it. There was no reason to hesitate any longer.

As for her wish...

It had already been decided long ago.

* * *

_It's a miracle._

Surely, that was a thought that passed through the minds of everyone present as they watched Kyousuke perform for them on the roof.

Sayaka, on the other hand, who had known just how such a miracle had occurred, was content to listen to him play his violin.

Listening to the prodigy play once more, she easily came to her conclusion:

There was no way that she made the wrong choice.

If only she realized just why she really had made such a wish...

* * *

Jeremy didn't know when, but at some point Sayaka had become a Magical Girl. Most likely, it happened while he had shut himself in his room, but he couldn't confirm it.

A pity. He kind of wanted to watch the process of becoming a Magical Girl so that he could figure out just how it worked.

Because, without a doubt...

The girl known as Miki Sayaka had gained immense power overnight. It was a feat that Jeremy felt was completely ridiculous. There would probably be a price for doing such a thing, but he had already suspected that weeks ago, and he still had no way of confirming it.

He watched as Tomoe Mami and Miki Sayaka team up and fight Witches and their familiars day in and day out, with Madoka still following them around.

Homura had approached them once, trying to convince them that Madoka no longer need to be a Magical Girl now that Mami had Sayaka.

She was quickly rebuffed, however.

That scene in itself told Jeremy something new.

Homura didn't just want to protect Madoka, but to even prevent her from being a Magical Girl.

Certainly, it was dangerous to fight all the time as a Magical Girl, but Jeremy felt that there was something else to it. Something that Homura felt wasn't worth having to become a Magical Girl.

He had confronted Homura about it later, but she refused to give him a concrete answer, despite them having come to an agreement earlier.

He didn't press her for more information. He himself had been hiding things from there, too, so he couldn't blame her. He could find out later if he really needed to.

* * *

It was yet another day of hunting Witches and their familiars for Mami.

This time however, as was with the past few days, the hunting was conducted with Miki Sayaka.

She wasn't sure why, but her intuition told her that Miki-san hadn't thought through it carefully enough.

On one hand, Mami was slightly disappointed that Miki-san had so quickly decided to become a Magical Girl despite her warning to think carefully about it.

On the other hand...

She finally had a companion now, someone who wouldn't disagree with her ideals! What else could she ask for? She no longer had to be lonely again.

It was actually quite soon after Miki-san had joined her on her hunts when that new transfer student, Akemi Homura, had approached them, trying to convince Mami that Madoka no longer needed to become a Magical Girl now that Mami had Sayaka.

Mami had always found that transfer student suspicious. Always appearing out of nowhere, trying to prevent Madoka from being a Magical Girl...

She was hiding something, that much Mami knew for sure.

Suddenly, a familiar sight caught her attention, dragging her thoughts towards the present.

Or rather, a familiar person, one that she had been wanting to talk to for some time.

"Hey, Miki-san, Kaname-san.. Can you two head on without me? There's something I need to do; Besides, Miki-san is a Magical Girl now so I'm sure you two should be fine. If you still need anything though, you can contact me through telepathy, okay?"

Sayaka looked at her in confusion.

"Eh? Mami-san, Wait a moment—" Sayaka said, before she stopped herself. "Oh ho, I see, I see. Have fun, Mami-san. But you better not take too long, or we'll defeat all the Witches and Familiars before you get back!"

With a grin, Miki-san dragged Madoka away.

Mami wasn't sure what Miki-san was implying at the end, but now wasn't the time to contemplate.

And so, she ran.

* * *

"Sayaka-chan, what was that all about?" Madoka asked as she was pulled along by Sayaka.

"Eh, you didn't see? The guy who saved Mami was right there." Sayaka replied with a grin on he face.

"Was he? I didn't notice. But if he was, why did Mami tell us to go on ahead? Couldn't we all just go say hello together?"

Apparently, Madoka didn't get it, but that was okay.

"I would have liked to join Mami too, actually," Kyuubey said, staring in the direction of the young man. "I for one would have liked to learn more about that irregularity..."

"Well, never mind that. Let's go save the unsuspecting innocent from those evil Witches!"

* * *

"E-excuse me!"

The voice that called out was certainly familiar. Jeremy sighed, and turned around to face the owner of the voice.

Just as he suspected, it was the blonde Magical Girl, Tomoe Mami.

He had only intended to buy some necessities before returning home, too. But it couldn't be helped.

Maybe he should have been even more aware of his surroundings. But extending his senses too far outwards was energy consuming, so he supposed it really was just bad luck.

"Did you need something?" Jeremy asked once Tomoe Mami was close enough to hear him.

The girl took a moment to catch her breath before replying. "A-ah, I've been meaning to say thank you for saving me the other day," she said. "So—"

"Let me clear some things up first," Jeremy interrupted. "I didn't save you."

"Eh?" Mami paused, looking up at him. "But I'm sure it was you. Did I mistake you for someone else?"

Jeremy sighed once again. "No, you did not. But maybe we should talk elsewhere. I have a feeling that this may take a while."

"Then, how about I invite you over to my place? It's not all that far from here."

* * *

Tomoe Mami had no idea what she was doing.

She was pretty sure her original intention was to simply thank the young man who had saved her, and then perhaps start a conversation where she could learn from him.

He did seem very experienced from the short time that she saw him fight, after all.

But instead, she found herself speechless at the young man's claim that he did no such thing as saving her, and then without thinking properly about it she had invited him to her own apartment!

Before she knew it, he was sitting in her apartment with a strange expression on his face, and she was serving him tea.

"Did you brew the tea?" the young man asked. "I find it much to my liking."

"Ah, yes, I did—wait, that's not the point! What did you mean earlier by claiming that you didn't save me?"

"I mean exactly what I said," the young man replied while calmly sipping his tea. "I didn't save you; you saved yourself. Granted, it was with a little help, but it doesn't change the facts."

"Facts...? What kind of facts are you basing that off of? I'm pretty sure that you came and attacked the Witch right before it would have killed me."

"Technically, that certainly did happen. But the way I see it, all I did was interrupt the fight, knocked some sense back into you, and then left the Witch for you to continue fighting."

"But—but...!"

Mami wasn't sure why she was so worked up about this. Why she was insisting that he saved her, and why this man was insisting that he didn't, she didn't understand. Was there a reason she wanted to convince him that what she believed was true? That, according to how she saw it, he had saved her?

"Tomoe Mami, I have reason to believe that you are stronger than that. The Witch you fought was surely not a Witch you should have lost to under normal circumstances. Perhaps that is why I meddled with your affairs that day."

"Under...normal circumstances? What do you mean?"

"When I saw you that day... you seemed to be distracted by your own happiness. It may sound strange, especially when I don't know what happened before the fight, but that's what it seemed like to me..."

Ah. She remembered what happened now, how Madoka had said that she would become a Magical Girl and accompany her. She had been so happy at the time, indeed...

It's true that Madoka still hadn't become a Magical Girl, but Mami couldn't blame her, not after seeing what nearly happened at the incident.

Mami suspected that it was that very same incident where she had nearly died that had made Madoka have second thoughts, while convincing Sayaka to become a Magical Girl. Who would have thought that such a thing could cause two very opposite reactions?

"Ah, yeah... about that, I think you might be right. I think I was distracted by my own happiness at that time... "

"Well, if you say so, then I guess my analysis as to what happened that day was correct."

"Analysis...? You seem rather experienced with this sort of thing. Can you tell me more? I wish to become even stronger, so that I won't ever make that kind of mistake again."

If Mami hadn't been staring at his face, she might have missed it, but the young man had smiled for a second when she had said that.

"Certainly. You see..."

* * *

Jeremy had mixed feelings about being invited to Tomoe Mami's apartment.

But that quickly went away as they started to get more engrossed in their conversation.

First, he changed Tomoe Mami's understanding of the situation. It wouldn't do if she believed that he saved her, not at all. And while one could technically say that he did, he didn't see it that way at all.

It really was a scenario that could have been interpreted both ways, and Tomoe Mami was better off believing that she had saved herself, for her own good.

Second, she had actually gone on ahead and asked him his own opinion on her fighting ability. He wasn't sure how exactly she came to conclude that he was experienced in fighting, but it certainly wasn't wrong, either.

Then again, it probably wasn't hard to come up with a conclusion like that about him, either.

He had gone on to explain his opinion of the strengths and weaknesses of her fighting style, and girl had actually started taking _notes_. At least she was certainly serious about improving herself, and if that was the case then he had no problems with helping her.

Furthermore, he got to learn some more about the magic Magical Girls used, thanks to their discussion.

They had been at it about an hour when suddenly, Mami paled.

"What's wrong?" Jeremy asked.

"It's... my friend is in trouble!"

* * *

Mami had spent the past hour talking with the young gentleman when Madoka suddenly contacted her through telepathy.

"_Mami-san!"_

"_Kaname-san? Sorry for not noticing earlier, I was a bit preoccupied. What's the matter?"_

"_Sorry for calling on you so suddenly, but...um, there's a big problem! It' Sayaka-chan!"_

Mami paled instantly when she heard that.

"What's wrong?" the young gentleman asked.

Although he was a bit rough here and there in his speech, Mami had decided that the young man in front of her was a gentleman. The strange way he spoke at times was easily explainable when the young gentleman had explained that Japanese was not his first language.

In fact, after learning that fact she was actually more amazed to find that for a language that wasn't his first, he was actually quite fluent in it, ignoring the quirks here and there.

"It's..." Mami paused for a moment. Did he even know who Miki Sayaka was? It may be possible, but it didn't seem as likely, so she settled with being a bit more vague."My friend is in trouble!"

"Then what are you waiting for? Go on, help her. Don't mind me, we can finish this conversation at another time." the young man replied in understanding as he got up.

"Are you coming with me?" Mami asked uncertainly as she made her way to the door.

"Actually, no, I was thinking of heading back. It's getting pretty late, and I'm sure you can easily handle this by yourself. I believe in your strength, after all."

"Ah, I see..." Mami replied. She kind of wanted him to accompany her and help Sayaka together, but at the same time...

It kind of felt good, hearing that he believed in her.

"Then, until we meet again, Tomoe Mami. Now, you better hurry and help your friend. "

"Right!"

It wasn't until after they had already departed from her apartment, going their separate ways, when Mami realized that she _still_ didn't know the gentleman's name.

* * *

Clang!

The sound of metal clashing rang through the air, as Sayaka blocked a spear from piercing her body.

"Hmmm. Not bad for a rookie. Did you learn that from that upperclassman you're so proud of?"

"Mami-san's not like that! It's because of Magical Girls like you that Mami..."

"Oh, shut it. That really pisses me off," the redheaded girl in front of Sayaka said as she spun her spear, before pointing it at Sayaka.

From the start, Sayaka felt that she would never get along with this girl. Someone like her, who was so cold and calculating, who didn't care about other people's lives and only cared about themselves... it was something Sayaka simply could not stand.

In fact, it really could be said to be the anti-thesis of what Sayaka and Mami-san believed in, who fought for justice.

"But seriously— What's with that mouth of yours? That's not how you're supposed to speak to your elders."

"Shut up!" Sayaka screamed, readying her saber as she rushed in, intent on killing the girl before her.

There was no way she could lose to Magical Girls like the girl in front of her; girls like her, were definitely no match for those who actually fought for justice—

That thought was interrupted as she was flung back again for the nth time in this fight.

"You just don't get it, do you?" the redhead said as she closed in. "Fighting for someone else's sake, that's ain't even worth a penny. In fact, that would be an insult to the penny! But it seems like when I try to explain it, you just don't get it. And when I try to beat it into you, you still don't get it," the girl said, a sadistic grin growing on her face. "If that's the case, I guess I have no choice but to kill an idiot like you!"

Click.

Both girls froze at the sound.

"Ah..." Sayaka involuntary let out, recognizing who had shown up.

"It's been a while. That girl is my precious underclassman. Could I get you to stop spreading your strange ideas, by any chance?"

The redheaded girl lowered her spear, but didn't move.

And why should she? For, behind the redheaded girl...

Mami-san stood, aiming one of her muskets at the girl.

* * *

Jeremy had lied when he said he said he was heading back. As soon as Mami was out of sight, he doubled back, concealing his presence as he followed Mami.

So when he and Mami finally got onto the scene, he was a little surprised to find Miki Sayaka fighting another Magical Girl, one that he hadn't seen before.

He was less surprised about the fact that they were fighting, than he was over the fact that there was a new Magical Girl here.

As far as he knew, she wasn't from around here, but it was also possible that he had missed her before.

And when it came to why Magical Girls, who should be teaming up to fight Witches, were fighting each other... It probably wasn't hard for a disagreement to arise between Magical Girls. After all, the relationship between Mami and Homura wasn't exactly all that great.

Okay, that relationship was actually quite bad.

"Sakura-san. Leaving your own territory... That's rather impolite, isn't it?"

So, the new girl's name was Sakura, and apparently Mami knew her. It also explained why he hadn't seen this 'Sakura' around before, as she had apparently left her own territory to come here.

"...What's this? I thought you'd have keeled over by now, Mami-senpai."

There was something else that Jeremy noticed. It seemed like Madoka and that thing known as Kyuubey was here, yes, but so was Homura, who was hiding as usual and keeping an eye on things, just like he was.

And then there was something else... Something else he didn't recognize, but at the same time, he did.

It didn't make sense. But certainly, _something_ was around here.

He would have to investigate. Homura and Mami could probably take care of the situation here. And besides, this situation really wasn't his business in the first place.

* * *

In the end, he found nothing besides the trace of unfamiliar magic. By the time he came back, the back alley where the Magical Girls confronted each other had already left. There was nothing left for him to do here, so he headed back home.

The next few days, he locked himself up in his room again, analyzing the magic and organizing his thoughts again.

But one night...

His intuition told him that something big was going to happen. He could feel it in the air.

Walpurgisnacht? No, that didn't seem right, the problem felt... different. Not dangerous, just different.

If something like Walpurgisnacht or his enemy was soon to appear, he would probably start feeling apprehensive, but this was something different.

Jeremy set out to find out what was going on.

* * *

As soon as he stepped out the door, Jeremy quickly noticed an influx of chaotic energy somewhere in the city.

By the time Jeremy arrived it was just in time to see Sayaka Miki turn into a Witch.

Jeremy stopped short, confused as the scene of events in front of him told him something he hadn't known before.

Those magical girls... became the very Witches that they fought against?

...Huh. Now, that was interesting. Jeremy wondered just what Kyuubey's purpose was, turning girls into magical girls that fought against other magical girls that had turned into Witches. If Magical Girls weren't made in the first place, there would be no Magical Girls to turn into Witches in the first place.

He had been told that Witches were beings of negative emotion, of despair, anxiety, suspicion, wrath, and/or hatred.

...Actually, that also made sense. Magical Girls used to be young girls, and the emotions of young teenage girls were often known fluctuate the most between hope and despair, among other emotions. If a Magical girl was the embodiment of hope... then it would make sense that a Magical girl who fell into despair became a Witch.

_I see,_ Jeremy thought. _ So that's how it is. Probably._

He watched as the redheaded girl, Sakura as Mami called her, tried her best to save Sayaka Miki, but failed and had to retreat.

As for why they were trying to help each other now...

Well, it's been a few days. It wasn't impossible for them to have gotten over their differences.

Regardless, right before his eyes, Sayaka had turned into a Witch. Jeremy simply watched the Witch from where he was, unnoticed by all.

Even if Kyoko had failed, someone else, another Magical Girl, would come take care of it.

It just didn't sit right with him to kill this Witch that used to be Sayaka Miki, not when the redheaded girl had escaped with Sayaka's body intact. It was clear from all of her actions that she intended to try and save her.

But... saving Sayaka, Jeremy didn't know if that was possible. His knowledge was woefully inadequate.

However, the girl known as Sakura was a Magical girl, the embodiment of hope, and the only one here who probably had the most experience, excluding Homura. Surely she'll think of something.

It was because there was hope that they could do it, that Jeremy left the Witch that used to be Sayaka alone.

Besides, he wasn't a Magical girl, and Magical girls were the ones who were supposed to take care of Witches.

* * *

In the end, the redheaded girl had failed to save Sayaka, even with Madoka. Mami and Homura had shown up too, but it turned out to be useless.

Jeremy wasn't sure what happened exactly, but that redheaded girl had even sacrificed herself to end the Witch that used to be Sayaka.

And with that, the only Magical Girls left in the town was Akemi Homura and Tomoe Mami.

The night Walpurgisnacht descended.

The two Magical Girls were nearly crushed and defeated, and he who had shown up wasn't able to make much of a difference.

Or rather, he was prevented from being able to make a difference, as 'HE' had shown up as expected.

Unable to assist the Magical Girls, they soon fell to the might that was Walpurgisnacht.

Left alone to face 'HIM' and Walpurgisnacht, he was without a doubt, doomed to fail.

But he didn't go down without a fight.

Single-handedly holding off both 'HIM' and Walpurgisnacht, he managed to stall for enough time until Homura was able to reset the loop—

* * *

Jeremy opened his eyes from where he lay. Time had successfully been reversed, it seemed.

Jeremy thought back to the final fight before Homura reversed time.

Walpurgisnacht was certainly powerful. But it wasn't so powerful that he couldn't defeat it.

On the same note, 'HE' was also ridiculously strong, but he already knew that. The only reason he had been able to hold them off together was because he only fought to survive and to protect Homura, not to win.

Winning was impossible... at least, by himself.

Dragging it out as long as possible, he had nearly succumbed and died when Homura turned back time, giving them all another chance.

With a sigh, Jeremy got up and set to find Homura. He had a few things he needed to clear up.

* * *

Homura shot up in her bed for the second time in a row.

What the hell was that? The enemy that Jeremy spoke about... he looked human, but his power was without a doubt on par with Walpurgisnacht, if not stronger.

Homura involuntarily shivered at the thought of having to face both of them at the same time. Walpurgisnacht was impossible enough as it was for her, and Jeremy had to fight someone just as strong, alone?

Homura wasn't sure, but she felt that the young man known as Jeremy had come alone to fight his enemy, while she had the chance of fighting Walpurgisnacht with other Magical Girls by her side.

Despite all that, Jeremy had kept his promise and had shown up to assist them.

At the beginning, they actually had a chance to win, before Jeremy's enemy had shown up.

Then it all went downhill from there.

But somehow... after Tomoe Mami and herself had been defeated and unable to move, Jeremy was actually somehow able to hold off both his enemy and Walpurgisnacht at the same time, long enough for her to turn back time.

It was true he wasn't as powerful as either of the two enemies; the amount of damage he could deal was miniscule compared to those two, but to have seen him stand before her, watching him hold them off with sheer skill and ability—

He was without a doubt, quite strong.

She couldn't get the scene out of her head, of how Jeremy had deflected and redirected so many attacks back at the two enemies, quickly and efficiently blocking attacks that came from all sides, preventing them all from getting hit...

And yet, despite all that, they had lost.

Fate really was cruel to her, it seems.

But she had another chance. She was _given_ another chance, thanks to Jeremy.

This time, she would make sure that they would not fail.

Leaving her hospital room, Homura made her way outside, meticulously plotting the details of how she would do things this time around, when suddenly, someone called out to her.

"Ah, so that's where you are, Akemi Homura. I need to ask you something."

A very, very familiar voice, one she didn't expect to hear so soon.

"Don't surprise me like that, Jeremy." She replied, turning around. "So? What is it?"

"I have a request. Do you think you can take the time to listen to me?" he asked.

She felt no reason to refuse. After all, he as quite strong, and she would like to be able to keep him as an ally.

"Only if you agree to keep the alliance we made in the previous loop, and if you tell me just who the hell your enemy is."

"Actually, although that wasn't my original request, I would certainly like to keep that agreement we had as well. But as for my enemy... I can tell you another time. Now's not a good time, considering my request."

"If that's the case," Homura said, "What is it that you're requesting?"

"Could you do the exact same thing you did in the previous time loop, up until after Mami survives fighting the Witch? There's something I want to try out."

* * *

In the end, Homura agreed to his request. But he would only have one chance; if they failed in this time loop, Homura would go back to doing whatever she wanted to do in the next loop.

That was fine by him. He didn't want to have to reset time so many times. It just didn't feel right, to him. It made it feel like everything that happened previously was just a lie, as unpleasant as some parts were.

He knew that line of thinking made him a hypocrite, but he didn't care.

Regardless, it was time to repeat everything that had happened in the last time line.

* * *

With new knowledge in mind, after saving Tomoe Mami, Jeremy started following and watching Sayaka far more closely than before.

He learns of Kyousuke, the childhood friend of Miki Sayaka and a violinist prodigy, who Jeremy acknowledges as a better violinist than he was when he was their age.

He learns of how Kyousuke had ended up in an accident rendering him unable to play the violin anymore.

And he figures out Sayaka's obvious crush on Kyousuke.

It was as simple as putting the facts together. Sayaka would most likely make a contract with a wish involving Kyousuke.

Should he stop it? Try to convince Sayaka that she should think even more carefully about it? That she's clearly lying to herself, trying to say that she did it to be a hero of justice when it clearly was not the case?

…

It wasn't his business to interfere, was it?

And thus, he ended up watching Sayaka Miki make the contract with clinical interest.

And thus, Jeremy learned something new once again.

* * *

Hope and despair, love and hate, kindness and wrath. Emotions, good and bad; that was what the whole spiel of magical girls and Witches were all about.

Emotions can become among the most powerful of weapons, Jeremy knew.

But they were all categorized under one thing.

Chaos.

Emotions were always born from chaos.

Jeremy was familiar with chaos and chaotic energy. 'HE' was of chaos, after all.

Jeremy himself did not fight as a knight of order against 'HIM', though. He was not of order, nor was he of chaos, for he had chosen to fight as both; all as one and one as all. A delicate balance between opposites.

That was why he was actually very, very familiar with how chaotic energy, including emotions, worked.

It was no wonder that Miki Sayaka was fated to become a Witch if she makes the contract with Kyuubey; it was simply cause and effect.

Jeremy, however, never was one for following the rules. Why should he, when the world itself has already denied him, denied his existence so many times?

* * *

Jeremy ended up running into Mami a couple days before the incident between Sayaka and the redheaded girl occurred. They ended up having the same conversation, but this time it was without interruption.

Days later, on the day where Sayaka and that redheaded girl had come to conflict, Jeremy had decided to investigate the area beforehand.

He walked into the alleyway...

And found himself under attack.

* * *

It was just a simple familiar, one belonging to a Witch. Jeremy wondered why he hadn't concealed himself earlier, but it was too late now.

Since the familiar probably thought that he wasn't a Magical Girl, he would have been an easy target.

_Well, too bad for you, familiar_, Jeremy thought, as he pushed the familiar and redirected its charge straight into the ground. _I'm not an easy target._

Jeremy drew out a sword and went for the finishing blow, when his senses screamed at him.

Leaping aside, he slowed down time and avoided the strike of a modular spear, and a familiar one at that.

"Hey, hold on, now. What do you think you're doing?"

The familiar escaped as a certain redheaded girl appeared, the owner of the spear, holding a dessert Jeremy recalled seeing before, called taiyaki.

"Why, I was simply defending myself," Jeremy replied flippantly. "What else could I be doing?"

The girl in front of him blinked. "You're not a Magical Girl, are you? Who the hell are you?"

"Just a passerby," Jeremy responded casually. "But, wasn't that a familiar of a Witch? You're a Magical Girl, right? Why did you let it go?"

"You seem to know a lot, but it seems like you've got this whole thing wrong, so let me explain things to you. Ever heard of the food chain? Familiars and Witches eat weak humans such as yourself. Familiars that killed enough humans grow up to become big, strong Witches. And cute and sexy Magical Girls such as myself eat Witches, with a delicious Grief Seed for dessert. That's the basic rule of this world, you got that?" she said, taking a bite of her taiyaki. "Killing a Familiar before it grows up, that's a waste of time and effort."

"I see, I see. So that's how it is," Jeremy said, sighing as he tilted his head. "The weak give way to the strong, indeed. That certainly makes sense... although, I do have to disagree on one part."

"Hah?" The girl looked at him with a confused expression on her face.

"I'm pretty sure I don't count as a 'weak human'. After all, I'm quite sure the Familiar that attacked me was the one who was about to get killed instead, had you not interfered. Also, I don't find you sexy." he replied with a grin.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded.

"Hey, don't take it personally; it's just a matter of taste, isn't it?" he replied.

The girl in front of him paused for a moment, staring at him before shaking her head.

"Never mind that, just who the hell are you?"

"Like I said before, I'm just a passerby. But, isn't it more polite for to introduce yourself first?"

"Hmph. I'm Kyoko. Sakura Kyoko. Now, tell me yours, or you might just find yourself attached onto this lovely spear of mine." The girl who identified herself as Sakura Kyoko bit into her taiyaki once again as she stared daggers into him.

"Ha ha, I'd like to see you try." Jeremy replied. The girl in front of him bristled for a moment before he interrupted her. "However, I don't really like fighting all that much, so I might as well tell you my name. You can just call me Jeremy."

Jeremy actually found it interesting that despite all the provocation being thrown around, not once did either side think about actually attacking. For all the seriousness that could be heard in their words, Jeremy could see it in her eyes.

Sakura Kyoko was not once serious the entire time. In fact, she was actually enjoying the banter between the two of them, if her facial expressions were anything to go by.

What was more surprising to Jeremy was that he couldn't help himself but to banter along with her. Not only that, he too somewhat enjoyed it.

"Jeremy, was it? I'll keep that in mind," Sakura Kyoko said. "So? What kind of passerby are you, to be able to fight off a familiar like that? You can't be an ordinary person, and clearly you're no Magical Girl."

"I'm just an unordinary passerby, Sakura Kyoko. On a side note, it looks like the familiar you prevented me from killing is under attack again. If you want to keep it alive, you better hurry."

"Whatever. I'll see you around, wiseguy."

The girl took off in the direction the familiar escaped in. Jeremy himself followed after her after she disappeared from sight, concealing his presence once more.

* * *

Jeremy arrived just in time to see Sakura Kyoko and Miki Sayaka face off, in a very familiar scene.

Mami wasn't there for some reason, though. In the last time line, she had stayed back because she started talking to him, but that clearly wasn't the case this time; he hadn't even seen Mami at all today.

Regardless, the scene where Sakura Kyoko and Miki Sayaka ended up fighting played out before his eyes, a scene he had missed last time but without a doubt would probably lead to what he saw in the last time line.

This time, however, the reason for conflict was obvious even to Jeremy. Miki Sayaka claimed to want to be a hero of justice, and Sakura Kyoko believed in the more practical approach, where only the strong survive.

Neither belief was inherently wrong, Jeremy thought. It's just that they were beliefs that could not coexist, and thus they clashed. It was something that really couldn't be helped.

The confrontation quickly degraded into a one-sided fight. Sakura Kyoko was by far more skilled and experienced than Miki Sayaka, and thus the outcome was obvious.

Jeremy didn't like it.

What should he do?

_Isn't it obvious? Just like with Mami, what do you want to do?_

Jeremy stepped forward, revealing his presence.

* * *

Sayaka was shocked when the spear that was headed towards her was suddenly grabbed by a third person.

Actually, she probably wasn't the only one shocked, the redheaded girl in front of her, Madoka, even Kyuubey, they were all shocked at the sudden appearance of that young man.

It was a familiar young man, the one who had saved Mami-san.

"Ah..." Sayaka involuntarily let out. What was he doing here? Was he here to help her just like when he did with Mami?

The redheaded Magical Girl, however, seemed to know who he was as she shouted at him. "Jeremy...! What are you doing here? Let go!"

The young man let go of the spear, but as he did so he stood in between herself and the redheaded girl.

"Sakura Kyoko... back off for a bit. Wanting to be a hero of justice is a beautiful dream, so let her dream for a bit. Maybe she'll even be able to turn that dream into reality."

The young man who was called Jeremy, and the girl who was called Sakura Kyoko... They even knew each other? Wasn't the young man, Jeremy, a hero of justice? Or were they in fact, enemies? That would make sense, if Jeremy was the hero of justice and Kyoko a villain. Besides, it sure looked like it...

"A dream, huh? That's all it's ever going to be. Turning such a dream into reality isn't possible!"

"Just let it be, Kyoko. It's _because_ turning a dream into a reality is such a difficult task that she's likely to fail. If you want her to learn... It's better for her to find out for herself."

Sayaka stared at the young man, more confused than ever. Wasn't this man, Jeremy, supposed to be a hero of justice? Then what was with the words coming out of his mouth? It was almost as if...

"Miki Sayaka!" the young man shouted, interrupting her thoughts. "Certainly, being a hero of justice is a beautiful thing. But it is naught but a dream! The only way to become one is to turn that dream into a reality! But let me warn you this, Miki Sayaka. Even if you really were completely serious about wanting to be an ally of justice, it is still likely that you will fail again and again, possibly to fall into despair and die miserably in the process instead. Despite all that, do you still want to be a hero of justice?"

"I... I don't _want _to be a hero of justice, I _will_ become an ally of justice!" Sayaka declared, strengthening her resolve.

"I see," the young man replied. "She's made her decision, Sakura Kyoko. There's not much for either of us to do here... besides to watch and wait, to see if Miki Sayaka succeeds or fails in turning that dream into a reality."

"Hmph. I would rather still beat the truth into her, but I'll let her go for now."

And just like that, the girl called Sakura Kyoko left, jumping up onto the rooftops.  
The young man himself watched her go before simply disappearing into the shadows himself.

Sayaka wondered idly how the young man managed to disappear into the shadows despite wearing white, before the sudden relief from all the tension caused her legs to be unable to support her for a moment.

As Madoka and Kyuubey approached her, she thought about the young man's words, his warning to her.

She would become an ally of justice, and prove that she _could_ turn that dream into a reality.

* * *

Mami had arrived just in time to see Jeremy interfere with the fight. Although Madoka had contacted her earlier, it seemed that somehow, Jeremy managed to find his way onto the scene without anyone telling him, and had ended the fight in a rather strange manner, reminiscent of the way he had saved her.

No, not saved her, but knocked some sense into her as he would insist, Mami thought with a slight smile.

Not only that, but it would appear that he knew Sakura Kyoko as well. She wondered just what that was about...

* * *

Many days passed since that incident where Jeremy had warned her.

Sayaka stared down at her lap, thinking about what a rough ride it had been for both herself and Mami the past few days.

After they had found out that their Soul Gems were actually the result of Kyuubey ripping their souls out of their bodies, Mami had nearly freaked out when the young man, Jeremy, showed up and somehow managed to calm her down.

That guy really had to be a hero of justice, thought Sayaka. Always showing up and helping them when they needed it, guiding them along and giving them warnings...

It was almost as if he was trying to help them in a rather roundabout way.

Sayaka was somewhat glad, but at the same time extremely depressed. After all, her best friend Hitomi had confessed to have fallen in love with Kyousuke, and Sayaka herself stood no chance against her, not... not as the zombie she was.

She had even yelled at her friends to leave her alone. Mami and Madoka meant well for sure, but... but...!

She knew she had no reason to get angry at them. She had only lashed out at them because they happened to be there, a fact that she deeply regretted.

It really was a difficult road, being an ally of justice. It was just as the young man had said when he had warned her, tested her resolve.

She thought she was strong enough, but in the end...

"Found you at last!"

The voice of Sakura Kyoko.

Over the past few days, she had learned that Sakura Kyoko wasn't all that bad a person. They could actually get along somewhat, but their ideals still clashed.

Kyoko, who had wanted to be an ally of justice but had given up, and Sayaka, who still wanted to be an ally of justice...

Sayaka found it laughable at times, of how wrong she had been about Kyoko. Kyoko had even supported her at times these days, despite their clashing ideals.

Really though, deep down inside she was glad that Kyoko had actually managed to find her today.

* * *

"How long were you planning to go on being stubborn like this?" Kyoko asked, eating her snack as she sat down next to Sayaka.

"Sorry for making you look for me," Sayaka replied quietly. Kyoko could hear the grief laced within her words.

"What's this? That doesn't sound like you." Kyoko said, looking at Sayaka

"I... I wanted to be an ally of justice, but..."

Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice interrupted her from behind them. "Do you still want to be an ally of justice?"

Kyoko leapt to her feet, spinning around as she turned to face the new person. Sayaka on the other hand, simply slouched down even lower in her depression.

"Who... Who are you?" Kyoko asked, looking at the figure standing directly behind Sayaka.

When had he gotten there? He hadn't been there earlier. Although it was dark out, there was a brightly lit sign behind Sayaka, so there was no way she could have missed him earlier.

The only real distinctive thing about the man, however, was his white, shoulder-length hair.

The figure ignored her, placing a hand on Sayaka's shoulder. "Sayaka, was it?" he said, looking down at her...

...with eyes that seemed to be filled with contempt. "Do you still want to become an ally of justice?"

Something was wrong, Kyoko felt. Who the hell was this guy?

"...Yeah, I still do." Sayaka finally replied to the stranger. "It's just that, to be a hero of justice, hope and despair have to balance out to zero. Saving people means to take their despair upon myself..."

"Is that so?" The man replied. "Then you're not giving up? You're still going to try to be a hero of justice, despite all despair and hatred that you've decided to take upon yourself?"

"...Of course not. I'll never give up. I just... want to take a short break for now."

Kyoko paused, wondering just what was going on. On one hand, this scene was extremely suspicious. Her instincts told her to get Sayaka and herself away from that man as far as possible, but at the same time his words didn't seem to drive Sayaka even further into despair.

In fact, he seemed to be confirming her resolve.

"Hmph. I see, so that's how it is. If that's the case..."

That was when Kyoko noticed. The hand that the man had placed on Sayaka...

...was pulsating with dark energy.

"Normally, I would have just let things run their course, but with Jeremy around it would be better to speed things up a bit. Since you refuse to give up your ideals, Miki Sayaka, then _go_ _drown in your ideals and die._"

Then that dark energy around his hand exploded, consuming Sayaka as the man disappeared into the darkness.

* * *

Jeremy had noticed the influx of chaotic energy. He recognized it; it belonged to 'HIM'.

He rushed onto the scene, a sword in hand, and was just in time to watch Miki Sayaka fall into despair, her soul gem becoming corrupted to the point where it shattered and turned into a grief seed as Sayaka Miki herself turned into a Witch, with 'HIM' nowhere in sight.

He had watched _very_ carefully.

Kyoko was there too, wildly looking around with a shocked expression on her face before she caught sight of him.

"Jeremy! What the hell is going on?"

Jeremy mentally cursed his bad luck. "Kyoko! Get Miki Sayaka out of here! We're falling back! I'll explain as much as I can later!"

"You better have a good explanation for this!"

Then Homura showed up, stopping time.

With the three of them working together, Kyoko was able to grab Miki Sayaka's body as they escaped.

* * *

Once they got out, Kyoko had nothing but questions for them.

"What the hell was that? Where did that Witch come from all of a sudden?" Kyoko asked.

"That is the Witch that used to be Miki Sayaka." Homura replied. Jeremy simply looked away.

"...Jeremy? Did you know this would happen?" Kyoko asked him.

"...I've only seen it happen once before. But I didn't expect to see it happen again." Jeremy replied.

"And I thought you would have done something about it." Homura said, almost accusingly. "Knowing you, I was sure that you would have done something, but it seems that the result was the same. What do you have to say, Jeremy?"

"The loop's not over yet. Don't go around assuming things, Homura," Jeremy replied.

Kyoko frantically looked back and forth between the two of them. "What are you guys talking about? Are you two plotting something? Hey! Tell me!"

"We're not plotting anything," Homura said, flicking her hair away. "It's just as you saw. Magical Girls are cursed to become the very Witches that they fight. When their Soul Gems become too corrupted, they turn into Grief Seeds. It is an undeniable fact, as much as I loathe to admit it."

"Regardless, it seems like Sayaka failed to make her dream come true." Jeremy said with a downcast look on his face. "If only I had paid more attention..."

"...You guys seem to know a lot." Kyoko accused them.

"Most of what I know is mostly in theory. I had no way of actually proving it," Jeremy defended himself.

"...Well, whatever. Do you think you can at least tell me just who the hell that guy was?" Kyoko asked

"There was someone else here?" asked Jeremy. Did Kyoko see 'HIM'...?

"Yeah, some weird guy with white hair. He was the one who messed around with Sayaka, telling her to drown in her ideals and die and all that crap."

Both of them stiffened up at her words, and glanced at each other.

"Did you just say... a white haired man?" Jeremy finally asked.

"Yeah, so? What was up with that guy?" Kyoko asked.

"That..." Homura hesitated, before looking at Jeremy.

"Probably, that guy was the enemy I was looking for." Jeremy said, a deadly serious look on his face. "That makes things all the more serious. Akemi Homura, Sakura Kyoko. Take Miki Sayaka's body away from here. I have to investigate something."

"Are you sure you'll be all right?" Homura asked him, concern on her face.

Ah, that's right. She knew how powerful 'HE' was.

"I'll be fine," he lied. "So, go on ahead."

* * *

After the girls left, he turned around to look at the entrance of the Labyrinth that the Witch that used to be Miki Sayaka had created.

He had lied when he said he as going to investigate. He didn't even intend to look for 'HIM' here, although he would have to be careful with 'HIM' around.

Jeremy had a theory, and it was time to test it.

* * *

When Jeremy stepped inside the Labyrinth, the first thing he noticed was the song.

A song for the Witch, a distorted song reminiscent of love.

A song...?

Suddenly, Jeremy recalled something. Yes, he could do that.

The corner of Jeremy's mouth turned upwards into a slight smile as he made his way to the center.

This may go a little easier then he thought.

* * *

Oktavia von Seckendorff.

That was the name of the witch at the center of the Labyrinth. It had taken him a while to figure it out, but having seen the runes so many times in different Labyrinths he figured out that it seemed to be some sort of runic language with some semblance to German.

More importantly, to his interest, there was actually an entire concert hall in here where an orchestra of minions continuously played for the Witch.

None noticed Jeremy yet, concealed as he was.

_Pardon me,_ Jeremy thought as he reached into his pocket, pulling out a small, silver rectangular object. _I'm afraid that this orchestra needs a soloist. I'll apologize in advance that it was me instead of Kyousuke._

As he brought up the rectangular object, it glowed for a moment, before turning into a violin.

_Arablest,_ Jeremy spoke quietly in his mind. _It's been a while, but let's work together once more._

* * *

Arablest. Ironically, an instrument of the same chaos that 'HE' used. It was an artifact that could take the form of any number of instruments at once. It was also the one and true legendary artifact that actually belonged to Jeremy.

And, most importantly...

Of all the types of magic that Jeremy had learned...

Music was his strongest.

Jeremy did not expect to do poorly.

* * *

Oktavia was a being of despair.

A being whose nature was to fall in love but to never receive it, she would constantly look for the feeling that had moved her so long ago.

Constantly wallowing under the weight of memories, nothing will reach her any longer. She refuses to do anything but listen to the music of her minions...

...And to prevent anyone from disturbing the playing of her minions.

So when an aberration suddenly showed up, she prepared to strike it down.

That was when the aberration started playing along with her minions.

Oktavia was confused. What was this? Something strange had shown up, and suddenly had started playing music along with her minions.

A song of an impossible love, a sad yet beautiful yet ugly song.

Oktavia was conflicted about about what to do.

* * *

Jeremy continued playing Arablest in the form of a violin, caught in a musical duel with the orchestra.

The minions had ignored him, continuously playing for the Witch.

Jeremy had quickly caught on to the tune of the orchestra and played along, creating a song in which the orchestra and his song would compliment each other, support each other. A skill that he normally would never have, much less master, without Arablest and its previous owner.

He wove his song, reaching out with his magic, seeing, feeling, understanding this world, the Witch's sorrow.

After all, if a picture could be worth a thousand words, why not a song?

In fact, Jeremy believed a song without lyrics had even more potential to tell a story.

It wasn't the saddest of stories. Jeremy himself had experienced worse many times. The only real tragedy was how Sayaka's weakness, and her inability to be honest with herself, had led to such an event.

Slowly, carefully, cautiously, Jeremy wove his magic.

* * *

Oktavia had decided to leave the aberration be. If it decided to join her ranks of minions and play along with the music, then let it. As long as the music wasn't disrupted, she would let it be.

Then she felt a slight tug within her form. A tug here, a tug there.

Was something attacking her? Preventing her from listening to the music?

The only thing different from before was the aberration.

It must be his doing.

So she attacked.

* * *

_Oh boy,_ Jeremy thought. _Things have finally gotten tricky_.

Jeremy leaned back and forth, spinning here and there like a dancer or a skater, still playing Arablest as he avoided the objects smashing into the ground around him.

Oktavia had finally decided to attack him, it seems.

It was time to start his own song, rather then playing with the orchestra. A battle where he had to survive Oktavia's onslaught while dueling the orchestra for control.

While he did that, he also had to concentrate on his magic.

What a pain, trying to do so much at once. But this wasn't the first time he had done that, so it wasn't too difficult.

He had actually found Oktavia's grief seed. Granted, he couldn't physically touch or see it, but he hadn't been weaving a web of magic with his earlier song for no reason.

When he had played along with the orchestra, his magic, intertwined with his music, had not only told him Oktavia's story, but the layout of the Labyrinth, of Oktavia herself.

He knew no words or emotions could reach Oktavia.

But that didn't mean he couldn't drag the remains of Sayaka out.

The Labyrinth, the representation of Sayaka's soul, and the grief seed, the fragmented remains of what was Sayaka's Soul Gem, her soul. He now knew where everything was, and had started weaving it all back together.

When he had seen Sayaka make a contract with Kyuubey, he hadn't just seen what happened, he learned and understand everything in detail, of how Kyuubey had ripped out Sayaka's soul and crystallized it into a Soul Gem.

What a crude yet efficient method.

What Jeremy was about to do was probably among the most difficult thing he had ever done in his life.

And he would not allow for even a single mistake.

* * *

Jeremy danced and played his song, weaving his magic, spinning around projectiles Oktavia launched against him.

The one magic Jeremy was attempting right now was one Jeremy had only learned in passing, but had actually never used.

Soulweaving.

A delicate and intricate magic, he had actually managed to figure it out after spending time with the banished soulweavers of Lehrail. However, Jeremy never really wanted to use such a magic that could alter a person's very own soul, and thus had never once practiced it.

Trying to piece back together Sayaka's fragmented soul and repair it should more or less be an impossible task for Jeremy as he was.

It sort of reminded Jeremy of that poem of how an anthropomorphic egg named Humpty Dumpty had fallen and broke, and all the king's horses and men were unable to put the pieces back together again.

There were some differences, though.

On one hand, Jeremy had a number of advantages.

First, with Time Alteration, he simply had a lot of time to keep trying until he got what he wanted.

Second, since he was playing and fighting with Arablest, his reserves of magic wasn't going to be a problem. Probably.

Hopefully.

And third, and perhaps most importantly of all:

He had seen Sayaka's Soul, and her soul gem, in its creation, and thus already knew how it already looked like. He had even seen it break and shatter at the end, when Miki Sayaka had turned into a Witch.

On the other hand, this was going to take a long time.

It was a puzzle that had over a million pieces, which required a skill he had never practiced once before, and mistakes were not acceptable.

Jeremy wondered if he had taken an impossible task upon himself.

All that was left now was a battle of attrition. Would Jeremy tire out first, killing himself for overexerting himself or dashed to pieces in the Labyrinth, failing to prove his theory, or would he succeed?

The odds weren't very favorable at all for Jeremy.

But he had already started, so he wouldn't back down.

* * *

Hours passed, but to Jeremy, it felt like months.

Correction: It might as well have been months, since time was being altered and slowed here in the Labyrinth thanks to his magic.

Jeremy was already mentally and physically exhausted, the air in the Labyrinth already showing signs of frost as he had began to absorb energy from his surroundings and the emotional energy from the songs to sustain himself.

He had barely made any progress, too, since he couldn't even physically see the fragments, and had to weave them together in his mind.

The rate at which he was tiring was too high compared to the rate at which he maintained his soulweaving.

It really was an impossible task for him after all.

But he still refused to give up.

* * *

_What am I doing?_ Jeremy thought.

Expending this much energy on simply attempting to prove a theory when 'HE' was nearby, it was suicidal.

Fortunately, 'HE' hadn't shown up at all in the Labyrinth. He would know, he was intertwined with the layout of the Labyrinth himself through the weaving of his song.

But it was still tantamount to suicide.

Why was he doing this?

_Isn't it obvious? You're doing what you've always wanted to do ever since you learned that Magical Girls turned into Witches._

That's true, but...

Wouldn't it be pointless if he died right afterward?

* * *

Jeremy had been in there for what probably amounted up to a year's worth of time now. He had already lost his sight, having overexerted himself, but he had no need to see to dance and avoid the wheels that this Witch had sent flying at him.

He had already lost some of his memory, but a small part of him knew that he could recover those IF he survived. All he needed was to continue his task.

...

He had lost many things. He had even lost _ _ _. But somehow, _ _ was still able to keep _ _ _ _ and _ _ _, avoiding the _ _ that _ _ _ had sent _ _ _ at _ _.

Why was _ _ doing _ _ again?

Who?

What?

_ _?

* * *

Kyoko had spent the night maintaining Sayaka's body with her magic, and was already quite tired. Still, she refused to give up on her friend.

The next morning she sought out Madoka and Mami. Madoka was close friends with Sayaka after all, and if anyone could save Sayaka it would be her, who understood her the most. Mami came along too, because she too would do anything to help her underclassman.

It wasn't even all that hard to convince the two of them, and they quickly made their way over to where Sayaka had turned into a Witch.

They arrive just in time to see a flash of light, and the signal indicating the presence of a Witch suddenly died out.

Something hit the floor.

"What..." Madoka started, but Kyoko was already running.

When she arrived where the entrance of the Labyrinth should have been, it was gone.

The only thing that remained was a young man in a white longcoat of sorts, lying on the floor, unconscious.

And in his hand...

...was Sayaka's Soul Gem.

* * *

The three of them stared in amazement, to the point where Kyoko had nearly dropped the apple she had been holding and had to catch it before it hit the ground

Food shouldn't be wasted, after all.

Against all odds, Jeremy had gone ahead of them and managed to retrieve Sayaka's Soul Gem and he wasn't even a magical girl.

"Just who the hell is this guy, seriously?" Kyoko said, glaring at the body, before realizing that, well, Sayaka's Soul Gem was _sitting __right there._

Kyoko walked over and snatched it out of the man's hand.

There was no resistance.

Well, he was unconscious to the point that he was probably dead, after all. And knowing him, he probably would have given it up willingly in the first place.

"Wait..." Madoka slowly spoke up. "Isn't that the same guy who saved Mami-san the other day?"

"Eh? Did something like that happen?" Kyoko asked.

"Not saved, helped." Mami said. "There's a difference."

As Madoka and Mami told her the story of what happened that day, Kyoko grinned.

Now, this was quite interesting.

* * *

A couple hours ago.

After Homura had parted with Sakura Kyoko and Miki Sayaka's body, she made her way back to where Miki Sayaka had turned into a Witch.

She definitely wasn't worried about Jeremy. No, she just wanted to make sure that such a powerful ally would stay alive until the end, she told herself.

When she arrived, she ran into the last person she wanted to meet.

"Why, hello there." A man with white hair said as he appeared from the darkness. "Fancy meeting you here."

Homura bristled at the sight. She recognized him; it was Jeremy's enemy, the one who had showed up at the end of the previous time line.

"Seems like you recognize me. Could it be, that you retain the memories from the last time loop?"

He remembers what happened too? What was this?

"I see. So you're the one who could control time. I see, I see, that makes sense. No wonder Jeremy was able to escape twice in a row already. If only I had managed to corrupt you in time in the first time loop, then things would have gone by much more quickly. Ah well, it really couldn't be helped."

Homura regained control over herself. Jeremy had already surprised her too many times like this, and therefore she wouldn't let this man do the same.

"So, little girl. Will you get out of my way? I would like to speak with Jeremy."

"I refuse." Homura replied, before stopping time. Whipping out an Howa Type 89 assualt rifle, she fired a few warning shots at him before restoring time.

"Oh my, how scary," Jeremy's enemy said, waving his hands nonchalantly as the bullets flew past him. Clearly despite his words he wasn't scared at all. "You should be careful with those weapons, you could kill someone with those." he said laughingly.

"That's the whole point," Homura grounded out, glaring at the man.

"Seems like I'm not wanted here at all," The man replied. "As easy as it would be for me to crush you here and now, fighting one who can stop time is such a pain. See you later, little girl."

Just like that, the man disappeared, melting into the darkness.

Homura refused to relax, looking around until she felt that he really was gone.

Then she realized that Jeremy was no where to be found.

* * *

It took Homura a while to find out, but she eventually found Jeremy.

He was in the Labyrinth that the Witch that used to be Miki Sayaka had created...

...And he was playing the Witch a song, of all things.

_What are you doing, Jeremy?_ Homura wondered.

As curious as she was, she decided that she wouldn't risk interrupting him. When he finally finished...

She would make him explain everything.

And thus, she decided to stand guard, watching over the entrance of the Labyrinth in case Jeremy's enemy came back.

She certainly didn't expect Jeremy to eventually reappear, exhausted and tired as he was (if not already dead), holding onto Miki Sayaka's Soul Gem.

To Homura, it was a miracle; a beautiful miracle.

If a miracle could happen...

Maybe Madoka could be saved, after all.

* * *

**A/N: Being Sayaka is suffering.  
**

** Thanks for making it this far.**

**Okay, finally got this chapter down and dusted. This chapter was a bit difficult to write, and I'm a busy person, but at least it's over now.  
You probably already noticed that the title of the story also more or less appeared in this chapter, too. Well, whatever.  
**

**Some thing you might want to know:**

**First, Arablest. That artifact is canon in Jeremy's original story, and he does get possession of it. It's a ridiculously powerful tool that nobody knows about since the people who wrote history decided not to include it. In fact, not including things in what was written in history was actually a minor plot point in my story. **

**I've already described Arablest somewhat in the story already, so no need to go into much detail here. **

**Also, the spelling is intentional as well. Those who DID write about Arablest, when people read their works they assumed it was a typo and believed the writers were talking about Arbalests, a type of crossbow.**

**After all, what kind of instrument can change the course of a war? Surely it must have been a crossbow. **

**Anyway, Arablest is ridiculously powerful. For now, you can think of it as an item that can amplify magic power, thus completely messing around with the laws of thermodynamics. **

**Then again, magic never did listen to science. xD**

**Another thing closely related to this: turning Ocktavia back into Sayaka. **

**Its already been declared that under normal means, turning a witch back into a Magical Girl is impossible, but even Kyuubey itself admitted that he wouldn't be surprised if it happened. **

**So I took a lot of liberties. If you don't like them... Well, whatever.  
**

**To be honest, the more I thought about it, the more plausible it seemed, so I decided to do it. **

**Clearly though, it was not without cost to Jeremy.**

**Third, if you're wondering, chapter 2.5 takes place somewhere near the beginning of this chapter. While Sayaka was becoming a Magical Girl, Jeremy was in his room. It was days after Sayaka became a Magical Girl that Jeremy met Homura, where they made an alliance or sorts.**

**Fourth, Jeremy's enemy. If you haven't noticed, 'HE' seems to have some power over chaos, and emotions are born from chaos. (haha, story title insert) It's not implausible that he could speed up the corruption of a Soul Gem, turning Magical Girls into Witches, especially when you realize that his power is apparently on par with Walpurgisnacht, if not even more so. That's why, although Miki Sayaka actually had a better chance of not turning into a Witch, the second 'HE' showed up she was doomed.  
Well, to be honest even if 'HE' hadn't she probably would have turned into a Witch anyway.  
**

**Anyway, that's all I can think of for now. **

**Find out what happens next when I feel like writing the next chapter.**

**...**

**Then again, who's even reading this anyway? **

**Anyway, if you bothered to read through this entire A/N, kudos to you.**

**Also, Omakes!**

* * *

OMAKE 1

Sayaka learned just what happened to her, and had spent the day running around looking for the man who had done the impossible feat and managed to save her even after she had become a witch.

To be honest, she didn't know what to say when she found him, but she knew she had to say something.

Oh well, she'll probably think of something when she actually found him.

She never did.

* * *

Lolololololol jk

OMAKE v1.1 (continued)

When Sayaka finally found Jeremy, he was on his way back from the grocery store.

"There you are!" she shouted, running at him.

The young man looked at her with a confused expression on his face.

"Who are you?"

Sayaka face-faulted.

* * *

lololol jk

OMAKE v1.2 (continued )

"Did you need something?" Jeremy said as the girl nearly ran him over.

"I need to talk to you. In private."

"I refuse."

* * *

Being Sayaka is suffering *is stabbed by Sayaka * Okay, okay, I'll stop trolling your Omake, Sayaka. I just couldn't help bullying you *is stabbed yet again *

OMAKE v1.3.

"I need to talk to you. In private."

"Is that so?" Jeremy asked. "At least let me put my groceries down, there are perishables in here. If you want, you can come along, my house isn't far from here.

* * *

Sayaka found herself standing in Jeremy's apartment while he put the groceries away.

It was very... plain.

There was literally nothing in the room but a single low table, the kind you had to kneel at to use.

The lack of furniture, design, of _anything_, in the room was discomforting. She didn't even know how he managed to live here.

She then found herself hoping that he at least had more furniture in the other rooms.

* * *

It didn't take very long for Jeremy to put the groceries away. He then prepared some tea for his guest, which he brought with him to living room where Sayaka was waiting.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Jeremy asked as he set the tea down on the only table in the room.

The girl stared at him for a moment, as if...

"Take your time, there's no rush." Jeremy said, recognizing the signs. She obviously felt that she had to say something, but didn't know what to say or how to put it into words. "Why don't you have some tea first?"

He poured out some tea into a cup, which he offered to Sayaka.

"A-ah, t-thank you." She accepted the tea cup and took a sip.

Then her eyes widened as she stared at the cup.

Because apparently he was that good at making tea.

_-  
Jeremy: Really, author? You're going to do this?  
Author: Yep. XD  
Jeremy: -_-  
Author: Anyway, on with the omake._

The girl sat there for a some time, simply sipping the tea that he had provided for her.

Jeremy himself just sat there, slowly drinking from his own tea cup.

He had all the time in the world, afterall. There was no need to rush.

Mostly because he had slowed down his own time, so even though Sayaka didn't say anything for a full 10 minutes it felt like 10 or so seconds to him.

Yeah, Time Alteration really is convenient.

"What did... how did you save me?" Sayaka finally asked, fidgeting where she sat.

"What did you say?" Jeremy asked, caught off guard.

Time was running a lot faster, after all. How was he to know when she would suddenly start speaking?

* * *

"Oh...er, about that..." Jeremy replied, wishing he could avoid the subject. He ended up telling her the truth anyway.

About how he had to find and weave together the broken fragments of her soul, literally drag it out and piece each and every one of them together in the right place while trying not to get killed by Oktavia.

"So um, yeah, I kind of ended up knowing a bit more about you than I really needed to. Sorry about that." Jeremy said, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

The girl looked extremely conflicted as she continued staring at her cup of tea, trying to comprehend what he had said.

And then she looked up at him, her face flushed with embarrassment (and why not, considering that the guy in front of her had just admitted to having read her soul and thus knew her inside and out?) glared at him with baleful eyes and pouted; it was an expression that could only be described in one word:

CUTE.

"Oi, what's wro-"

"SHUT UP AND TAKE RESPONSIBILITYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"

There could only be one response from Jeremy:

He exploded from sheer MOE-ness.

_-  
Jeremy: Really, author? Really?  
Author: lololololol xDD  
Author: also, Because Sayaka is apparently tsundere now.  
Sayaka: Wait, when did I become tsundere? -_-  
Author: When this omake started. Isn't it sad, Sayaka? _

* * *

OMAKE 2

Kyoko decided to give Jeremy a visit after Sayaka told her where he lived.

"Yo." She said when Jeremy opened the door. "I'm coming in."

Without even waiting for a reply she walked right in.

Jeremy could only stare at her in disbelief as she walked in, eating some sort of snack he hadn't heard about.

"...Kyoko, was it? What do you want?"

"Hey, gotta say thanks to the one who saved my friend, right?"she said, handing over one of the snacks she had been holding."Want some?"

Jeremy hesitated for a moment, before he realized Kyoko's intention.

So he accepted the snack. "Thanks," he said absentmindedly. "I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting a guest. Please, give me a moment so that I can welcome you properly."

And like that, he fled to the kitchen.

Kyoko looked around the living room. "Sayaka wasn't kidding when she said this room was hella plain. Maybe I should do something about it..."

* * *

Normally, Jeremy would simply have made tea.

But knowing Kyoko, who was always eating, he decided it wasn't enough.

_Time Alteration_, he declared.

Now, he had more than enough time.

….

Why was he doing this again?

_-  
Author: For the lolz.  
Jeremy: -_- really?_

* * *

Kyoko was still contemplating on how to make the room less plain when Jeremy came back.

But when Jeremy walked through the door, much to her amazement he literally carted a cart with freshly made goods of various kinds.

There was the tea that she had been expecting, considering what Sayaka had told her earlier, but that almost seemed pushed off to the corner of the cart in favor of the mini baked goods and other sweets that included cookies, cakes, chocolate.

And furthermore, they were clearly freshly made.

Not only that, he had only been gone for less than a minute!

That was when Jeremy realized what he had done.

_-  
Jeremy: You mean, what you made me do. -_- OTL  
Author: Trololololol_

Kyoko could feel her mouth water as she nearly dropped her snack yet again thanks to the same guy doing the most ridiculous thing.

The most ridiculous but AWESOME things.

"I thought you liked food, considering I see you eating all the time, so I thought I'll offer some food to welcome you." Jeremy said as he tried to explain himself.

"...Did you just make all that?"

"Um... yes? Why?"

"Aren't you overdoing it a bit?"

"Well, I didn't know what you liked, so I just made it all... You can take whatever you want back home if you'd like, guess. But anyway, what did you come here for?"

It didn't take long for the conversation to degenerate after Kyoko took her first bite.

She froze.

She transformed into a magical girl, complete with her spear.

She pointed it at Jeremy.

"BECOME MY SLAVE AND COOK FOR ME FOREVER"

Hilarity ensues as Jeremy tries to refuse.

From that day forth, legends were passed down about how a certain red haired magical girl tried to capture a young man so that he would became her cook.

As for what really happened, the world may never know.


End file.
